


Family Beyond Blood

by CrazyJanaCat



Series: HarryTale [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bad Puns, Dumbledore Bashing, Mild Gore, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, even though it's just one conversation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-09-15 02:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9214820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyJanaCat/pseuds/CrazyJanaCat
Summary: Abandoned by his relatives, little Harry Potter falls down a hole and finds a whole new world he might just fit in.





	1. A Freak in the Ruins

**Author's Note:**

> MONSTER AGING:  
> For the first part of their life, CHILDHOOD, monsters will age twice as slow as humans, so every 2 years for humans is 1 monster year. This period takes between 10 to 12 monster years, or 20 to 25 human years.  
> The second part of their life, PUBERTY, starts after child monsters have ‘popped’ and goes until adulthood. In this faze, they age five times as slow, meaning that every 5 human years equals 1 monster year. This period is about 10 or 11 monster years long, or 50 to 55 human years.  
> This means a monster is between 70 and 80 years old when reaching ADULTHOOD. From there on out, they will age ten times as slow, meaning that for every monster year, 10 human years go by, or for every 10 monster years, 100 human years.  
> Once reaching ADULTHOOD, Boss Monsters stop aging until they have kids, like Gerson tells Frisk in the game. In this story, not only the Dreemurs are Boss Monsters, but also the skelebros, Undyne and Gerson himself. Gerson is old because he used to have a kid himself (he’s Undyne’s grandfather) but his daughter died.

_“Lily, take Harry and run! It’s him! Go! Run! I’ll hold him off!”_

_…_

_“No, please! Not Harry! Kill me, but let him live!”_

_“What are you? You’re a monster! You and your half-blood child will die tonight, creature! **Avada Kedavra!** ”_

_“The world will be off better without freaks like you. **Avada Kedavra!** ”_

.              .              .               .              .

Harry groaned softly and curled into himself, trying to fight off the pain in his body. Sadly, it only got worse with movement. He whimpered softly and took a few gasping breaths. Tears were streaming down his face, wetting the golden flowers underneath him. He was pretty sure that he had broken a few ribs at least. He was going to die down there, all alone, just like he deserved. Freaks didn’t deserve love, after all.

He didn’t hear the soft sound of footsteps and rustling of clothes over his own weak sobs and cries. Only when someone knelt down beside him, did the young boy realize he was no longer alone. The boy tensed up as a large, fluffy hand rested on his head and gently stroked his hair out of his face. Harry blinked his big green eyes up at the person and gasped when he saw she wasn’t human.

“Do not be afraid, my child,” the woman spoke gently, smiling softly down at him.  
“I am Toriel, caretakers of these Ruins. I will take good care of you at my home.”

The young boy was shaking like a leaf, but he still nodded his head quietly. She seemed nice enough. Maybe… maybe she could help him get better again before she realized he was a freak and send him away. It might be a bit unfair, but if it could save him, he was willing to take the chance. Besides, he’d leave her alone again soon enough. No need to bother her for longer than he had to.

Toriel smiled comfortingly at him as she lifted him into her arms. The shift made Harry groan and whimper in pain, but that resided somewhat again as he coddled into the woman’s warm body. His eyes slowly fell closed as Toriel hummed a soothing tune under her breath and before he knew it, he had fallen sound asleep in her arms.

.              .              .               .              .

When Harry woke up again, he was lying in a soft bed. The young boy scowled confused at this. How did he end up in a soft bed? He slept in a cupboard and on his family’s holiday in California, he had slept on the ground. There had been a relatively comfortable rug in the room, so it wasn’t all that bad…

His eyes went wide in horror as he remembered what had happened and he shot up straight in the bed. His sides gave a very painful tug, making him groan softly as he pressed a hand against his ribs. He noticed that the fabric under his hand was much softer and thicker than the flimsy, grey, oversized shirt from when he arrived there. Instead, he was wearing nice blue flannel pajamas. They were still a few sizes too big, but at least they looked better than Dudley’s old clothes. Harry felt a pang of guilt for taking advantage of the nice goat lady like this. No… he was sure that part was only a dream. It had to have been a human that found him.

Slowly and carefully not to hurt himself more, Harry slid out of the bed. The room he was in looked really nice. And so big too! it had to be about as big as Dudley’s! There was even a box full of toys and more clothes in the wardrobe. All different sizes too, just like the box full of shoes. Harry wondered if the lady had a child herself and if he was now using their room. He hoped not. He didn’t want to intrude on a family like that.

After inspecting everything, Harry walked over to the door and stepped out into the hall. On the left from his room were two more doors while on the right, he could see stairs going to some sort of basement and the front door and another open door. He could smell something really nice in there, so he decided to follow his nose and curiosity.

He entered a small living area, with a table, a bookcase and a large brown armchair where Toriel was seated. For a few moments, Harry couldn’t keep his eyes off the woman. She really was a goat lady! So it hadn’t been a dream after all. This had to be the weirdest thing he’d ever come across. He jumped a little when Toriel spotted him and put her book down.

“Oh! You’re awake I see!” she greeted him cheerfully.

Harry bit his lip cutely and nodded. He was still terrified. Would she be angry he had overslept? Would she want him to leave right away? He didn’t want to be a bother to her, but this home looked really nice, so he didn’t really want to leave yet. The kind woman didn’t seem to notice Harry’s fear as she got up from her seat and ruffled Harry’s hair playfully.

“You must be so hungry, my child!” she said cheerfully.  
“Not to worry, my dear. I have just what you need. Come along now.”

In the kitchen, a large stack of pancakes was waiting for him, which Toriel put on the table, along with syrup and a plate. She waited until the boy had clambered on the chair before pressing a soft kiss on his forehead and walking back to her own seat. Harry stared and scowled.

“U-uh… Are-aren’t you going to eat too, miss Toriel?” he asked shyly.

“Not to worry, dear child,” the woman chuckled, looking back over at him.  
“I already ate two hours ago. You can eat as many pancakes as you like.”

Harry blushed and looked down. How long had he been asleep that miss Toriel had already eaten? Wasn’t she angry at him? She probably was, but she didn’t show it because she was such a nice person. Too nice to someone like him.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled ashamed.

“For what?” Toriel asked amused.  
“You were very injured. Of course you needed a lot of rest.”

Harry’s blush brightened even more and he quickly turned his attention on the pancakes in front of him. Even though Toriel had told him he could have as many as he wanted, he only ate one. it was definitely delicious, but he didn’t dare take more. Toriel was just being polite, after all. He should do the same for her and not be a burden.

“Done already?” Toriel asked surprised.

Harry nodded his head and looked down at the floor.

“In that case. Why don’t you go get dressed and play in your room for a bit?” Toriel suggested.  
“Oh! And would you mind telling me your name, dear child? I would have asked earlier, but you weren’t in any state to reply then.”

Harry felt tears well up in his eyes, but quickly blinked them away. Boys don’t cry. That’s what uncle Vernon always told him before hitting him in the face to make him stop crying. It never worked, but Harry was smart enough to avoid crying as much as possible.

“I’m Harry Potter,” he whispered quietly.

“Well, Harry. I’m very happy to have you live with me!” Toriel said smiling.

Again he nodded and hurried out the door. Toriel was angry at him for having to take care of him. no matter how hard he tried, he’d be a burden to her anyway, wouldn’t he? How stupid of him to think a freak like him could ever be anything but a bother to other people.

Since he couldn’t find his own clothes anymore, Harry picked out a shirt and pants from the wardrobe that were closest to his own size. It was a purple shirt with black stripes and it was only a little bit big on him. The same with the black pants. Harry smiled. He was happy to get to wear such nice clothes.

.              .              .               .              .

Toriel walked into his room a few hours later to announce lunch, smiling softly as Harry was playing with the old toys in the box. His bed was neatly made up already, done by the boy himself, and all the toys he didn’t play with were all still neatly stored away.

“Are you hungry, my child?” Toriel asked.

Harry looked up bewildered and hurried to put the toys back in the box, fearing retribution if he left a mess. Toriel smiled softly, thinking that Harry’s hurry was his eagerness to get food. The rest of the day went by very quick as Harry slowly started to relax more around Toriel. He was still jumpy and expected to be met with cruelty and violence when he did something wrong, but at least he started to smile and hope again.

So, when Toriel took him to the room to tuck him in, he made his very first mistake. He asked a question.

“Miss Toriel. Do you have any children?” he asked softly as he sat down on the bed.

The goat woman tensed at the question, her eyes widening in shock before dulling. In his worry for the nice lady’s wellbeing, Harry made his second mistake. He didn’t stop with one question.

“Miss Toriel?” he asked worried.  
“Did I say something wrong? Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, Harry,” she mumbled, harsher than he had heard her speak so far, making him tense.  
“Go to sleep, my child. This is no time to start asking such questions, alright?”

Harry looked down ashamed and nodded his head. He didn’t look back up until the door closed behind Toriel. With a sigh, he turned around in the bed so he was facing the wall and closed his eyes.

He dreamed about Toriel, yelling at him for being a bothersome, nosy freak. For not telling her how worthless he was before taking him in, for abusing her kindness and being a burden. He woke back up in the middle of the night with tears in his eyes.

Gasping for breath, Harry rubbed his eyes, only to feel his fingers on one hand were oddly hard. His eyes widened in horror and he looked down at his right hand. Three fingers had lost their skin, leaving only bones to be seen.

“No,” he whimpered terrified.  
“Nonononono. Not now, please!”

.              .              .               .              .

Harry was very lucky that his hand was back to normal by the next morning, but the damage had been done. He was withdrawn and fearful, so much so that Toriel was getting very worried.

Harry reminded her a little of Chara when she had first arrived, but they used to have Asriel to help them get over their fears and become comfortable with living in the Underground. All Toriel could really do was try her best to let Harry know that he was welcome with her and even wanted. She would show him love.

It was a very slow progress, but by the end of the week, the young boy dared to talk again. He kept anxiously offering to do chores, but Toriel insisted on doing them herself, so Harry spend most his time in his room, playing with his toys when she was busy. Otherwise, he would sit next to the fireplace and listen to her while she read to him.

Again, Harry started feeling comfortable with her and after ten days, he started accepting that maybe, she wouldn’t send him away the moment he tripped up. That, was perhaps his biggest mistake of all…

.              .              .               .              .

Harry had been playing outside when his hands started itching terribly. He started scratching absentmindedly until there was a soft ripping sound and a stinging pain from his right wrist. Harry looked down in horror to find his skin was literally peeling off like it was nothing. He shouted and stumbled back as more tiny flecks of skin fell off by themselves, revealing bone and muscle. The sight almost made him sick to the stomach.

He tried to rub himself clean, do something, but to his bewilderment, he found he was only making it worse as now his other hand also started to flake off. Was he going to end up falling apart? He didn’t want to die yet! He was only eight. He had a whole life still in front of him, no matter how useless and miserable it would be. He wasn’t ready yet. He wanted to find a place even someone like he could be happy and call it home.

“Harry?!”

In a fit of panic, the boy stuffed his ruined hands in his pockets and watched bewildered as Toriel approached. She couldn’t see what was happening. She’d never let him stay after that. Too terrified that she’d find the dead skin lying on the ground, he rushed forward and met her near the door of her home. The woman had been smiling, but as she saw Harry’s petrified expression, she frowned.

“Are you alright, my child?” she asked worried.  
“You are awfully pale. Are you getting sick?”

Harry swallowed and shook his head hurriedly. He didn’t want her to be worried because of him. he was already causing her more than enough trouble as it was. Toriel sighed and dropped it, knowing that Harry wouldn’t tell her even if he was getting sick, which reminded her of other things she had been wondering about for a while now.

“Harry… I tried not to be too curious, but if you don’t mind, could you tell me how you got that odd scar on your forehead?” she asked.

Harry had to resisted the urge to put a hand over the scar and looked down, like he so often did.

“I-it’s… from a-a car crash,” he muttered softly.  
“I d-don’t r-remember it, b-but aunt Petunia says my parents died in it…”

“Oh, you poor sweetheart,” Toriel murmured, leaning down to hug Harry and kiss his forehead, right over the scar.

Harry shivered a little and took a step back as soon as he was let go of. Hugs still made him nervous. He wasn’t used to touches not hurting. Toriel sighed sadly and stood back up, still looking just as worried as before if not more.

“What about the other ones? The scars on your back and arms? And the ones on your legs?” she asked.

Harry tensed. He couldn’t tell her. If he told her it were punishments for freakishness, she’d be angry, wouldn’t she? After all, no one would want a freak in the house. His eyes watered and Harry hunched his shoulders while looking pitifully up at Toriel.

“I-I’m so sorry, miss Toriel,” he sobbed before running off into the house.

He could hear the goat woman call his name, but he ignored it in favor of closing and locking his – no, Toriel’s – door and hiding under the sheets of his bed – Toriel’s bed because nothing in this house was his. Not even the clothes he was wearing.

.              .              .               .              .

Harry couldn’t sleep at all that night. He was terrified that Toriel would burst into the room and kick him out of the house, or that more of his skin would fall off if he closed his eyes. It still didn’t change the fact that his face started itching horribly, but he resisted the urge to scratch for as long as he could.

In the end, he couldn’t resist the need for relief and he scratched. To his horror, a whole patch of skin loosened from his cheek and fell on the bed with a disgusting wet slap. The boy gagged and jumped out of bed, feeling dizzy and sick. It was a good thing the room was so dark at the moment, otherwise he would definitely have thrown up at the sight of.

Shivering in fear, Harry stood there for a few moments before making up his mind. He couldn’t stay there. If Toriel saw what was happening to him… No. He couldn’t let her know. It would break his heart to see her reaction of what Harry was becoming. Really, it would be best for everyone if he just left and never returned. She’d be happier without him there, he was sure.

Determined, Harry walked over to the closet and pulled out a jacket. It wasn’t very thick, but it was summer in the middle of California. He’d be fine, even this deep underground it wasn’t _that_ cold. He wanted to take a scarf too, but decided against it at the last minute. He was already taking clothes that weren’t his. He shouldn’t steal everything Toriel had left here out of kindness.

He put on some shoes, the only ones in the big box of them that fit him, and he snuck out of the room. Just as he had hoped, Toriel was still sound asleep, giving him the chance to creep through the hallway towards the front door. There had to be a way out of the Ruins somewhere, but Harry had already been everywhere together with Toriel and he hadn’t seen one…

Harry took a step back from the door and he looked over at the staircase. It was the one place in the house and the Ruins he wasn’t allowed to go. Well… that and the room between his and miss Toriel’s room – both were miss Toriel’s room. Harry didn’t belong here, he was a freak – which was always closed for some reason Harry hadn’t dared to ask.

As he went down the stairs, Harry was careful not to make any noise and before long, he was standing in a long, dark hallway. Harry frowned. This looked nothing like what a basement should look like… Curiously, he followed the hall, which made a turn halfway before he came to a halt in front of a giant purple door. Harry blinked a few times in confusion before stepping forward carefully. Perhaps this was the way out.

The door opened with a little effort, making Harry smile relieved as he stepped out into… yet another long, dark corridor. Where would it end? Was it going to be just like this all the way up to the surface?

His eye itched, and without thinking, Harry lifted his glasses off with a bony hand to rub it. A wet squelch, and a momentary loss of sight from his right eye had the boy tense in horror. Slowly, he brought his hand down again, blinking heavily until the sight came back to his eye, sharper than before even without his glasses. It enabled him to properly see what was now laying in his hand.

Harry fell forward on his knees, gagging heavily before throwing up in disgust. It was his eye. His eye had come out together with his eyelid. It was by far the most horrifying thing he’d ever seen, and he’d once accidentally walked in on his uncle showering without closing the curtain.

A loud, horrified wail tore from his throat and Harry sat there for the longest time, sobbing and gagging. He threw up two more times before he was able to pull himself up on shaky legs and started walking again. He needed to be gone before Toriel found anything.

Maybe his relatives had been right to leave him behind. He was literally falling apart, how disgusted they must have been with him…

He walked for several minutes before he came across another door. Yet again, he pushed it open, unsure what he was going to find on the other side. He hoped it wasn’t another corridor. He hoped he would find his way out of the mountain soon.

Whatever Harry had expected, it was not the gust of freezing wind and the soft crunching of snow underneath his feet at the first step out. He looked up in wonder, being even more shocked to find a perfectly closed off cave ceiling high over his head. It was lighter out here as it had been in the Ruins, but still relatively dark for a place that had no sunlight. Harry wondered how there was light at all, since he couldn’t see where it was coming from.

Shrugging the strangeness of this place off, Harry continued his trudge through the thick snow. He was starting to regret not brining that scarf now…

.              .              .               .              .

Toriel was in a panic when she woke up in the morning to find the human child gone. A whole patch of skin was all that was left on the bed as proof that Harry Potter had been with her for a little over a week. Half of the boy’s cheek, if her human anatomy was correct. It was strange though. She knew some monsters that shed their skin while aging, but she was very certain that humans did not do such a thing. Still, the skin was clearly dead and dry.

With a sigh, she sat down and buried her face in her hands. Yet another human had gone to meet their doom. That would make a full seven now. At least now, Monsters could finally be freed. But at what cost would their freedom come?

 


	2. Spooky Scary Skele-bro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I had two chapters lying ready, I'll post the second one now. I hope I'll be able to start posting regularly from next week on on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I don't know if I'll be able to keep that up until the end. Let's hope I can! ^_^

Sans loved just walking around to clear his mind whenever he wasn’t expected at the lab. He liked doing it when he _was_ expected in the lab too, but Alphys kind of needed his help from time to time, so he couldn’t _not_ go, right? She was a friend, a former assistant of _G@5t3r_ _,_ even if neither of them could remember much of him anymore.

The forest behind Snowdin was possibly the best place to ‘cool off’, especially with all the time he spend in Hotland in Alphys’ lab. It was nice and quiet in this part of the Underground. Birds were singing, the wind was rustling the evergreen trees, a little kid was crying…

Sans paused and scowled. The soft sniffing came from deeper in the forest. Frowning, Sans walked between the dense trees to find a tiny figure in a big grey summer jacket. The child was shaking and shivering while quiet sobs escaped them. Sans sighed and knelt down next to the kid, making them tense up in fear.

One of their eyes peeked out of the hood pulled so far over their head only a mop black hair was visible. It was bright green in color, but Sans still had no idea what kind of monster he was looking at. The child went rigid at the sight of him and gasped loudly. The kid was already sitting against the trunk of a tree, leaving him no room to scramble backwards like he wanted, so instead, he pushed weakly at the skeleton and tried to run away.

For a few moments, Sans played with the idea to let the kid just go, but then they slipped and almost fell flat on their face. It was only thanks to Sans’s quick reactions that he could wrap their SOUL in blue magic and lift them up in the air. Because of the sudden jerk, however, the kid’s hood had fallen off, revealing his face. Sans almost dropped the kid again.

The kid had messy raven hair, which was thinning at the right side. His left eye was a brilliant green, shimmering with tears and his cheek was rosy from the cold. Ugly round glasses were perched in top of his little button nose, skewed from the sudden movements. But the most chocking part was that most of the right half of his face was gone, revealing his skull. His right eye was gone too, leaving a black abyss with a single white dot, like his own.

The boy – because he could now see they were a boy – tried to curl into himself and covered his face with his hands, giving a pathetic whimper. Sans really did drop the kid when he saw that his hands were completely skinless too. What the hell was going on?

“D-don’t l-look at m-me!” the boy cried.  
“I-I’m so-sorry! I’m sorry for being a f-freak!”

The lights in Sans’s eyes dimmed and he checked the kid’s stats and SOUL. He had kind of expected it, yet he was still shocked to see the kid had a mix of a human and a monster SOUL. Upside down, colored a soft pink that stood for Love. The good kind. The rest of the stats didn’t really tell him much.

 **Harry Potter**  
ATK 1  
DEF 1  
LV 0

**HP 2/5**

***Survived the impossible.**

Heh… the kid was already tougher than he was… and that info was odd too…

“Easy, kiddo,” Sans said, slowly approaching the hybrid – a fucking hybrid! He thought those died out during the War – like he was a terrified animal.

Which he was. Terrified, that is.

“Kid… Harry… I’m not gonna hurt ya, alright?” he said slowly.  
“You’re not a freak either. I’ll show ya, c’mere. That’s it… nice an’ easy.”

He knelt down in front of the boy and held out his hand, making sure his ever-present smile was soft and friendly. The poor kid probably grew up with his human relatives, unknowing of his monster heritage. He was probably either dropped here, or he ran away before anyone could explain anything.

Sans lowered himself back to the ground slowly, keeping his hands out in a friendly gesture as to not freak the kid out. It seemed to relax the little boy a little at least. That was good. He didn’t even pull away when Sans gently grasped the kid’s hand and held it against his own, palm to palm. His hand was quite a lot bigger compared to the boy’s, but other than that, they were really similar.

“See? They’re pretty much the same, right?” he said grinning.  
“This is nothing to **rattle your bones** about, yeah? In fact, being a skeleton is way cooler. Nothin’ gets **under our skin**.”

He winked at the kid, who giggled softly and started grinning a little. Sans’s grin widened and he sat down fully next to the kid with a heavy sigh.

“I know this gotta be real scare for ya, kid, but everything’s gonna be fine. You’ll see.”

“Y-you promise?” the boy whispered quietly, looking up hopeful.

Sans winced. He hated making promises. But this kid… he looked so pitiful and miserable.

“Yeah. Sure,” he muttered, shrugging.

The boy gave another watery smile and drew his legs up to his chest, wrapping his tiny arms around them. Sans tried to remember how humans aged. The first ten to twelve years it had to be about double the speed of monster kids, which made the kid about six or seven if he had to guess. Poor kid.

“Uhm… mister? Did… did you… ch-change t-too?” the boy asked nervously.

“Huh? Nah. I’m born like this,” Sans replied.  
“And the name’s Sans. Not that ‘mister’ business.”

“Oh…”

The kid’s face fell instantly. A cute little pout on his blue lips… Now that Sans thought about it, he was pretty sure human lips weren’t supposed to be blue. The kid was probably freezing. With a sigh, Sans got back up and offered a hand to the kid.

“C’mon. You look like you’re **chilled to the bone** ,” he said.

The boy gave a weak chuckle before looking at his hand like it was the oddest thing he’d ever seen.

“I-it’s fine…” he kid mumbled.  
“… I-I’m not that cold… I’m fine.”

“Don’t lie to me kid, I can see right through you.”

The boy flinched back, as if expected Sans to react with violence upon catching the kid’s lie. The skeleton sighed and used blue magic to get the kid back on his feet.

“Listen. I might be a skeleton, but I’m not heartless, you know,” he said.  
“I’m not just gonna let you freeze out here. Besides, you look like you could use some good company.”

“I-I don’t want to-to be a b-bother…” the boy whispered.

“Deal with it,” Sans huffed before teleporting the two of them out of Snowdin forest.

.              .              .               .              .

Harry didn’t know what to think when he was suddenly transported from the snowy forest to an incredibly warm room. It looked kind of like a very big office, or… Harry tensed in horror. A lab. The blue light that lifted him in the air disappeared once he sat on a desk chair. His eyes – or eye, he still wasn’t used to that – wide as saucers.

“H-how!” he shouted awe struck.

“Magic,” Sans replied grinning.

Instantly, Harry’s eyes watered, the word triggering terrible memories of a red-faced uncle Vernon shouting in his face until he was covered in spit, or aunt Petunia slapping him hard enough to make him see stars. Both of them giving him the same message, over and over again.

“M-magic isn’t real,” he whimpered terrified.  
“I-It’s a b-bad word! It’s wrong and e-evil!”

Even without any visible changes in his face, Sans’s expression turned dark and humorless, terrifying Harry even more. The little boy squeaked in fear and pulled his legs back up in an attempt to curl up. He heard Sans taking a deep breath before a bony hand pressed on his knee.

“It’s not a bad word, kiddo,” Sans said.  
“And it’s not evil either. All monsters have magic.”

Harry blinked confused.

“M-monsters? B-but aren’t monsters supposed to be evil?”

“Is that what humans think of us now?” Sans asked darkly before chuckling.  
“Eh… No **bones** about it… Do I look evil to ya, kiddo? Be honest. I can take it.”

Harry frowned a little. Sans was a little scary when he got upset, but other than that, Harry was sure he was really nice. After all, he’d seen Harry’s freakishness and still took him with him. He bit his lip and shook his head, making Sans chuckle amused again.

“See? That’s at least one nice monster,” he said.

Harry thought back to Toriel. _Two. There were at least two nice monsters._ He didn’t say it out loud though. Instead, he let guilt rush over him. Maybe miss Toriel would have let him stay even after finding out too…?

The sudden sound of an elevator and the sliding of door had Harry jump up and look around. In the back of the room, a metal door had just opened and a yellow dinosaur in a lab coat walked out. Harry swallowed nervously and slid a bit lower in his chair in an attempt to hide himself from the newcomer. It seemed to work at first, as the monster looked at Sans and smiled.

“Oh! T-there you are…” she – it sounded like a she at least – said, smiling nervously.  
“L-late again, Sans. B-but I-I guess it’s fine. We don’t have much to do anyway…”

“Still stuck on your research, Alphys?” Sans asked.  
“So the yellow SOUL isn’t enough Determination, to do the job, huh?”

When the dinosaur nodded her head, Sans turned to face Harry again. The other monster, Alphys, gasped as she too noticed Harry’s presence now.

“You look like the type that doesn’t just accept kindness, right?” Sans asked.

Harry blushed and hid his face behind his knees, mumbling a weak apology.

“That’s fine, buddy,” the skeleton chuckled.  
“That just made me think… how about a trade? You help us, we help you?”

This had Harry perk up instantly.

“L-like what?” Harry asked softly.

“A place to stay, food, company and a nice warm bed,” Sans said.  
“And if it’s fine with you, we’d like to do some tests. Nothing you don’t want to though. You can stay with me and my bro whether you agree to help or not.”

Tests… that didn’t sound really great, but it didn’t sound bad either. In the place he’d get a bed to sleep in and food. That sounded really good to him.

“W-what kind of t-tests?” he asked quietly.

“Nothing bad,” Sans replied.  
“Remember that little heart that comes out of your chest when I use blue magic?”

So that was magic too? Harry had guessed as much, but it was nice to have it confirmed. He still flinched at the word, but he tried to cover it up. He wasn’t sure if it had worked though. He nodded quickly.

“Well, that’s your SOUL. I’ve got one too, see?”

Harry looked up and looked at the softly glowing white upside down heart hovering over his palm. After a few moments, Sans let the heart float back into his chest.

“It’s got no special color like yours though,” Sans said.  
“Only humans have that, but there haven’t been any humans down here for a while.”

“Oh…”

Harry wondered if they were angry at him for being there then.

“Chin up, kid,” Sans laughed.  
“It aint a bad thing. You’re really special, ya know? You’re both monster and human.”

‘Special’. That’s what aunt Petunia called Dudley. It was a good thing. The opposite of ‘freak’, wasn’t it? At least that’s what it felt like to him. He’d never been called special before.

“Y-you mean… th-they’re a-a hybrid!?” Alphys stuttered.

“Yup! Part human, part skeleton, right baby bones?”

Harry blinked at the endearment and started blushing harshly. He wasn’t used to those. And ‘baby bones’ was one he’d never heard his relatives use for each other either. It must be something only skeletons used, he guessed. Smiling softly, he nodded again. He guessed he was part skeleton. This made Sans chuckle and he reached out to ruffle Harry’s hair a little.

“For now, you’ll stay here in the lab with Alphys, alright, kiddo?” Sans said.  
“Out there, monsters aren’t really happy with the humans, and if they see you now, they might mistake you for one.”

“O-okay,” Harry mumbled shyly.

“U-uh… Sans…? Sh-shouldn’t we, uh-” Alphys stammered nervously.

Sans’s eyes suddenly lost their light dots, scaring Harry instantly while Alphys tensed up.

“ ** _Don’t tell Asgore about the kid,_** ” he demanded.

“O-of course not!” Alphys squeaked.  
“I-I w-wouldn’t d-dare! I-I won’t, Sans!”

Having calmed down again, Sans turned to Harry.

“How about you go explore the place a little while Alphys and I fix you a room, deal?”

Harry nodded frantically and jumped off the chair. Sans was a little scary like that.

.              .              .               .              .

Harry stayed with Alphys in the lab for two weeks and Sans would come to visit daily. They mostly talked with Harry during that time, telling him stories, explaining how the Underground worked and asking about his past. Harry would always close down as they asked about his family, so Sans was quick to give up on that. Instead he told jokes until Harry was giggling.

Soon enough, Harry started to cling to the skeleton, probably noticing that with every new patch of skin that fell off him, he became more alike to him. Even though Sans had been scary at first, Harry found that he felt safe just being around him.

“Ready to go in, baby bones?” Sans asked putting a heavy hand on Harry’s mostly skinless shoulder, only covered with a black shirt with two white stripes over the chest.

The boy swallowed nervously and nodded his head. Today was the day they were going to test his SOUL and if possible harvest Determination for Alphys’s research on making new SOULS. Harry didn’t understand anything of the explanation Alphys had given him about what they were going to do. He only knew Sans had told him it wouldn’t hurt. He would just have to lie in a machine and it would pull out his SOUL, like when Sans made him blue. It might tickle a bit, though.

“You’re a brave little kid, ya know?” Sans told him proudly, making Harry beam.  
“I’d say you’ve got **guts** , but who knows how long that’ll last, right? Heh.”

Harry giggled and grabbed Sans’s hand as he was led down to what Sans and Alphys called the ‘True Lab’ and brought to the giant machine Alphys called the ‘Determination Extractor’. Harry had no idea what extractor meant, but it sounded scary.

As they entered the room with the big scary machine, Sans floated Harry inside with his blue magic and strapped him in. The boy bit his lip nervously and looked up at with two glowing eye sockets. Sans tensed in shock as he saw them glowing bright green, not having expected green eyes from a pink soul. The skeleton pressed a bony hand against the kid’s cheekbone.

“You alright, kiddo?” he asked.

“’m scared…” Harry whispered shakily.

“It’ll be alright, baby bones,” Sans said.  
“I’ll be right here, and if you want to stop, just say the word.”

Harry nodded again and relaxed a little more in the machine. He was still scared, but something inside him told him he could trust Sans to protect him. If he wanted to stop, Sans would let him. He was happy that he had found a place where he was useful, with nice people. If he could, he would like to stay with them for the rest of his life.

“A-alright! W-we’re starting…” Alphys said.

Harry closed his eyes and held his breath as the machine closed above him and rumbled as it was activated. Harry could feel his SOUL exit his chest and there was a painful stab before there was nothing at all…

.              .              .               .              .

Sans wouldn’t like to admit it, but he was a little scared for the kid. He had a very powerful SOUL, he’d felt that whenever he was close to it. One made of Love too, which was rare for humans. Then again, Harry _was_ part skeleton, but even then it was an unusual color to have.

“He has strangely high amounts Determination for not having a Determined SOUL,” Alphys said.

Sans scowled – as much as a perpetually grinning skeleton could – and moved closer to see what was going on. He noticed something odd on the readings.

“Do another scan,” he commanded.

Alphys nodded and did just that. She gasped in shock and horror and jumped back from the screen. Sans’s eye sockets widened when the machine detected not one, but three SOULS inside the kid.

“What the hell did you do, baby bones?” Sans muttered disturbed.

He had his own SOUL – which was apparently made of Kindness instead of Love – which was the strongest of the three. In fact, the other two were mere echoes of SOULS, almost battling each other. Strangely, he could tell one of them was a monster SOUL. As far as he knew, there weren’t any monsters left on the surface, or had some maybe been able to escape? It had to be. There was no other way Harry could have even been born.

“Love isn’t his own SOUL’s color,” he muttered awestruck.  
“It’s a combination of the two other SOULS colors mixing over his.”

“R-really?!” Alphys gasped, leaning closer.

“We’ll know for sure if we do separate checks on ‘em,” Sans grunted.

He refused to believe that the kid had killed two people and absorbed their SOULS. It lay in the range of possibilities of course. Hybrids could absorb human and monster SOULS if they wanted to. They were also a lot more powerful than either, so even if Harry had killed people, it was probably by accident.

“Let’s check the human SOUL shard first,” he suggested.

“A-alright…” Alphys sighed, typing away on her computer before pulling up the stats.

 **Tom Riddle Jr. 1/7**  
ATK???  
DEF???

***Ensured his immortality.**

“… That doesn’t look good…” Sans muttered.

“D-do you think this human-…”

“Stashed a piece of his SOUL inside the kid? That’s what I was thinking,” Sans growled.  
“… But it’s a real Determined SOUL, so maybe that’s what you need, right? It might work out.”

“S-so you want to g-get it o-out?” Alphys asked.

“We’ll ask the kid before,” Sans said.  
“Now let’s check the other SOUL that’s stuck in there.”

Again, Alphys pulled up the stats of the SOUL radiating a very strong pulse of Love. To their surprise it seemed to be holding the other SOUL fraction at bay, keeping it from overtaking the boy’s own SOUL.

 **Lily Potter**  
ATK 0  
DEF???

***A mother’s Love never dies.**

“I-I think… that one is p-protecting him,” Alphys mumbled.

“Yeah… looks like it, huh?” Sans said.  
“Let’s get the kid out for now. He’s got the right to decide what to do here.”

.              .              .               .              .

When Harry woke up next time, he was lying in his bed again, with Sans sitting on the chair next to him. The skeleton seemed to be sleeping, his eyes closed and snoring softly. It was still something Harry couldn’t understand. How could he close his eyes without skin? Weren’t eyelids supposed to be just skin? But they were made of bone, both his and Sans’s.

For a few moments, he wondered if he should wake Sans up, but decided against it. Maybe he could sneak out of the room and make some breakfast for Sans as a thank you for taking him in like this. He’d been cooking more often, because Alphys didn’t eat very healthily, unfortunately. And he kept the upper levels of the building clean. They never asked him to do it, but they also never told him to stop, and he even got a ‘thank you’ whenever he did something!

Making sure to be quiet, Harry slipped out of the bed and tip-toed towards the door. He was really sure there were still some eggs in the fridge which he could use to make some nice scrambled eggs.

“Where are you going, kid?”

Harry tensed and slowly turned around. Sans was still sitting in the same position as before, with his hands in his pockets and his chin against his sternum, but now one eye was open and a glowing pupil stared at Harry intensely. Harry flushed in embarrassment and looked down shyly.

“I-I wanted to make you breakfast…” he whispered.

“That’s nice, baby bones, but that can wait,” Sans chuckled.  
“I figured you and I could have a little chat first, deal?”

Harry nodded and walked back to the bed and sat down, suddenly feeling very nervous. What had Sans to say to him? Maybe the test had failed and he was useless to them now. Were… were they going to send him away? He had started to hope he could stay there, but he should really have known better.

“Uhm… D-didn’t it w-work?” Harry asked in a soft whisper.

“It worked, but we decided to lay off on extracting anything just yet.”

This made Harry scowl. That couldn’t be a good thing.

“Why? What’s wrong with me?” he asked.

“We found something… unusual,” Sans started slowly.  
“It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with _you_. It’s just something that needs to be talked about.”

Harry bit his lip and drew his legs up, burying his face in his knees, like he always did when he was nervous or scared. He heard Sans heave a sigh before the bed dipped down with his weight and a warm, skeletal hand pressed on his head in a comforting way.

“It’s not a bad thing, kiddo,” Sans murmured.  
“It’s just something I’m worried about. I think it might be something that’s hurting you…”

Harry’s head shot up, his eye sockets wide in shock.

“You… you’re worried about me?” he asked in a soft whisper.

“Sure do, baby bones,” Sans replied, grinning softly in the way that Harry had thought was only for when he mentioned his brother.  
“You know, I was actually thinkin’… After this is all over. We could adopt you… My bro and I could take good care of you.”

Harry stared at him for a few moments as he tried to understand what Sans had just said because it didn’t make any sense to him. When he couldn’t find any other meaning than the obvious one, he threw himself into Sans’s arms, sobbing loudly. He couldn’t understand why Sans would want him, but if he really could stay with him, he’d definitely do it. Sans was way nicer than the Dursleys.

“R-really?” he asked softly, looking up hopeful.

“Wouldn’t lie about that, kiddo,” Sans chuckled.  
“I want to help you, but I need you to talk to me for that. Can you do that, buddy?”

Harry hesitated for a moment before nodding his head. He’d tell Sans anything he wanted to know… as long as he knew the answer of course. He was only eight after all, he couldn’t really see how useful he could be.

“What do you want to know?” Harry asked quietly.

“You said you’re an orphan, right? Do you know anything about your parents? Any memories about them?”

Harry scowled in thought for a moment before shaking his head.

“Aunt Petunia told me they were useless drunks. Couldn’t hold a job, leached off others…” he mumbled.  
“They died in a car accident, but I survived and ended up with them… uncle Vernon said I should just have died with them…”

He absentmindedly rubbed the scar on his forehead. The skin there was already gone too, but somehow, the scar was still there, now a lightning bold shaped ridge in his skull.

“That’s how you got that scar?” Sans asked.

Again, Harry nodded his head. He looked up again when Sans pulled his hand away, staring at the scar with a critical look before sighing and shaking his head.

“That’s not a regular scar, kid,” he said.  
“That’s one from very powerful, very dark magic. S’got nothing to do with cars.”

“B-but aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon…”

“Lied to ya, kiddo,” Sans grunted, pulling Harry back in a tight hug.  
“You know what I think? I think your folks died protecting ya from something very dangerous.”

Tears sprang in Harry’s eyes at that and he cuddled further into Sans’s arms. He wasn’t that surprised his relatives had lied to him about his parents. They’d lied about almost everything else, after all. It was mostly the thought that his parents had died for him that upset him. Why would there be anyone out there that wanted him dead? Or his parents for that matter?

“Listen, baby bones,” Sans murmured while rubbing soothing circles over Harry’s spine.  
“I don’t usually make promises, but I’ll make an exception for you. I promise you that if we ever get to the surface, I’ll hunt this _Tom Riddle_ down and give him a **bad time**.”

Harry nodded and muttered a quit thanks. He had no idea who Tom Riddle was, but if he was a bad person that had hurt him and his family, then Sans could have him. He’d be sorry to have ever messed with Harry’s new big skele-bro.

 


	3. Skele-home

“Alright, looks good, kid,” Sans said, patting the top of Harry’s skull. 

He lived at the lab for almost a whole month now, and he’d lost all his skin and flesh. He still wasn’t sure how he’d lost all his internal organs though. He’d gone to bed with a strange tingling in his belly, and when he woke up, he was a full skeleton with no trace of his squishy parts anywhere. 

“I-is my SOUL good now?” Harry asked nervously. 

Sans chuckled and showed Harry the pale, nearly white upside down heart floating over his palm. Harry smiled. It was almost identical to Sans’s own SOUL. If Harry still had lips, he’d be grinning happily, but now with his perpetual skull-grin, the only change in his expression was the glittering of the white dots in his eye sockets. 

A week earlier, Sans and Alphys had extracted – Harry had finally learned what the word it meant – the Determined human SOUL piece and it would be used to save monsters that had ‘fallen down’, though neither wanted to explain to Harry what that meant. And now, Sans had finally succeeded in hiding Harry’s SOUL color. 

“Does that mean I can leave with you now?” Harry asked hopeful. 

“Sure does,” Sans chuckled fondly.   
“Go say goodbye to Alphys and pack your stuff.” 

Harry nodded eagerly and jumped off the table. He liked Alphys, but he couldn’t wait to leave the creepy lab and Hotland. He didn’t really like the extreme heath. He came from Britain, after all. 

The room he’d been given in the lab was barely more than a supply closet with a bed and a coat hanger, but it was still bigger than his old cupboard. It had made him miss Toriel’s home, which in turn made him feel guilty because he was being ungrateful to Sans and Alphys for giving him this much. They had, however, given him toys, books and new clothes. 

“Put on something warm!” Sans called out. 

“Okay!” Harry called back cheerfully. 

He’d bloomed in the past month. He was still shy, sure, but he was more confident and playful and he no longer expected harsh punishments for little mistakes. He knew these monsters wouldn’t hurt him, and he was starting to learn that they wouldn’t abandon him either… 

Harry slung his backpack over his shoulder and skipped back out of the ‘room’, where Alphys was waiting for him with tears in her eyes. Harry blinked in surprise, but instantly hugged back when the Royal Scientist leaned down and pulled him into a tight embrace. 

“I-I’ll miss you, Harry!” she wailed.   
“Who’ll watch anime with me now?!” 

“Don’t worry, Alph. The kid can come visit as often as he wants,” Sans said amused. 

Harry brightened up again and looked at the skeleton he could from this day forward call his big brother. 

“Really?” he asked. 

“Within reason of course. And with someone coming with ya,” Sans replied shrugging.   
“You’re not gonna be running around the Underground on your own just yet, kiddo.” 

Harry giggled and nodded his head. He stepped back a little from Alphys and leaned up to press his teeth against her cheek in an imitation of a kiss. 

“Bye, Alphys! I’ll visit soon, promise!” he said. 

With that, he ran over to Sans and grabbed his hand. 

“Let’s go home, baby bones. C’mon, I know a shortcut.” 

..... 

Harry stared at the small house he was standing in front of. They were in the outposts of the capital, Sans had told him. The place was a little over crowded, so they only had a small house, but it was enough for three of them. Harry hoped he wasn’t going to be too much of a burden. 

“Stop overthinking kid,” Sans said, squeezing Harry’s hand and grinning at him. 

“B-but what if I’ll just be in your w-way…” he muttered reluctantly. 

“Heh. That’s what brothers are _supposed_ to do, baby bones,” Sans chuckled. 

Harry blushed and looked away shyly. Sans was really nice to him. he was happy he wanted to be his brother. He hoped that Papyrus would be just as nice. 

“Let’s go in and meet Pap, alright?” Sans suggested. 

Harry nodded his head and tightened his bony fingers around Sans’s hand. He was terrified that Papyrus wouldn’t like him and send him away again. Sans just chuckled and pushed the door open. 

“Yo, bro!” Sans called as they entered the house.   
“I brought the kid! Come meet him, Pap!” 

Papyrus stepped out of the kitchen, looking a very intimidating figure to the small boy. He was very tall, almost twice as tall as Sans even and he wore an orange turtleneck sweater and jeans. Harry swallowed nervously and hid behind Sans, who laughed at the way Papyrus’s face fell – figuratively, of course. 

“C’mon, baby bones. Go say hi to your now big bro,” Sans coaxed. 

Harry took a deep breath and peeked out from behind him, staring up at Papyrus, who just stared back for a few moments. 

“… H-hi… P-Papyrus,” he whispered. 

Somehow, an orange blush appeared on Papyrus’s cheekbones and he pressed his hands against them. 

“NYEH HEH HEH! YOU ARE SO ADORABLE!!!” he shouted, making Harry flinch back.   
“WORRY NOT, LITTLE HARRINGTON. YOUR NEW BIG BROTHER WILL NOT CAUSE YOU HARM!” 

Harry scowled. 

“I-it’s just Harry,” he mumbled quietly. 

“It’s a skeleton thing,” Sans explained shrugging.   
“We’re all named after the font that fits us best.” 

“Font?” Harry asked confused. 

“Just go with it, baby bones,” Sans laughed.   
“Besides, Harrington kind of fits ya anyway.” 

Harry scowled, but he didn’t question it further. 

“How about I show ya where you’ll sleep?” Sans suggested, grabbing Harry’s hand again.   
“This place only has two bedrooms, so you’ll have to share with me. Hope that’s alright?” 

“That’s fine,” Harry whispered. 

..... 

It had been five years since Harry had entered the Underground, but he had barely aged two years since his arrival. Sans had explained that monsters had longer lives than humans because their bodies were mostly made up out of magical matter instead of biological matter. 

“Hold it steady, kid,” Sans instructed. 

“I’m doing that,” Harry muttered. 

He focused on the stone he was levitating using Blue Magic, which Sans had been teaching him the past few weeks. This was the first time he could get something to fly this steady and for longer than just a few seconds! 

“You’re doing great, kiddo,” Sans said, leaning against the side of their home, both his eyes closed.   
“Before ya know it, you’ll be better at it then me. Which is great ‘cause that means you can bring me stuff.” 

Harry dropped the stone and glared at his oldest brother. 

“You’re so lazy, Sans!” he whined.   
“You didn’t even look at how great I did!” 

“I looked,” Sans replied amused.   
“It was really good. Now all you gotta do is practice some more and bam. Blue Magic Harry.” 

Harry chuckled and sat down next to his brother, laying his head on the elder’s ribs and closed his eye sockets too. almost immediately, Sans wrapped one arm around Harry to pull him closer. 

“Can you next teach me to use shortcuts?” Harry asked hopeful. 

“Not until you’re a bit older, kiddo,” Sans replied lazily. 

“Oh… How about using Gaster Blasters?” Harry tried. 

“Not until you’re a lot older, kid.” 

“BROTHERS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE GREAT NEWS!!” 

Harry opened his eyes again and looked curiously at Papyrus, who approached them rapidly. 

“Yeah? what is it, bro?” Sans asked, not opening his sockets at all. 

“I HAVE DECIDED TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!” Papyrus announced proudly.   
“WE WILL HAVE TO MOVE TO SNOWDIN SO I CAN START MY TRAINING AS A SENTRY THERE.” 

Harry sat up with a scowl. 

“But isn’t Snowdin like, really cold?” he asked. 

“We’re skeletons. We barely feel any cold,” Sans pointed out.   
“Besides, if it’s Pap’s wish, who are we to say no? Unless ya really want to stay here?” 

Harry thought about it for a moment. He wasn’t very popular around the capital, but he wasn’t disliked either. The Underground didn’t have a lot of kids, but the kids that _were_ in the capital and at Harry’s school, were all pretty nice. He wouldn’t call any of them close friends, but they were alright at least. Though he had to admit that Bratty and Catty, who were a few years older than him, were maybe a bit over the top and they rarely left him alone because they thought he was ‘like, super-duper cute’. 

“No. I’m good,” Harry replied.   
“It’s just moving. Nothing to **rattle my bones** about.” 

Sans chuckled and patted Harry’s head while Papyrus gave a long-suffering sigh. 

“WHY DO YOU AND SANS KEEP INSISTING ON PLAGUING ME WITH BAD PUNS?” he asked. 

“C’mon, bro. Don’t ya have a **funny bone**?” Sans asked amused. 

“I SWEAR, IF I DIDN’T WORRY ABOUT YOU TWO SO MUCH, I’D LEAVE YOU HERE AND LIVE ON MY OWN.” 

“Thanks bro,” Sans said. 

“We’d probably die without you, Pappy!” Harry said cheerfully. 

“I KNOW, LITTLE BROTHER,” Papyrus sighed. 

Neither of them saw the way Sans looked away with a sad scowl. 

..... 

Their new home in Snowdin was a lot bigger than their old house. It wasn’t anything special, but they now had three bedrooms, a separate kitchen and a nice and spacey living room. Harry was excited to live there, though he’d miss sleeping with Sans. His big bro could always chase away his nightmares. 

“Want to go check out your new room, baby bones?” Sans asked. 

Harry’s eyes sparkled with happiness and he jumped a little in excitement. 

“I never had a room to my own before!” he said happily.   
“I mean, I slept in a cupboard with my relatives, and the lady in the Ruins gave me a room when I stayed with her, but it’s not the same.” 

Just like always when Harry mentioned his human relatives, Sans’s expression darkened momentarily before brightening again and he patted Harry’s skull with a fond chuckle. 

“Well, you’ve got one now,” he said. 

“YOU MAY CHOSE ONE FOR YOURSELF FIRST, HARRY,” Papyrus suggested, giving Harry a gentle push towards the stairs. 

Laughing in excitement, Harry ran up the stairs and looked at all the rooms separately before making his decision. Sans and Papyrus had followed him and were patiently waiting for Harry’s verdict. 

“I want the middle room!” he announced happily. 

“Really? The smallest one?” Sans asked shocked. 

“Yeah. It’s the best fit, right? I mean, I _am_ the smallest,” Harry shrugged.   
“Besides, that way, when I need to reach one of you it’s the easiest. I’ll feel most comfortable in the middle.” 

“THEN THE MIDDLE ROOM IS YOURS!” Papyrus said, pulling Harry in a hug. 

“I’ll take this one,” Sans said, pointing at the room in the farthest corner.   
“I’ll be the one to leave the room the least, so it makes sense.” 

“Which leaves the biggest room for Pap!” Harry said grinning, looking at his brothers. 

“IT HAS BEEN DECIDED!” Papyrus announced proudly.   
“THIS WILL NOW BE OUR NEW HOME!” 

Harry and Sans looked at each other, mischief dancing in their eyes as they thought of the same thing. 

“Our skele-home,” they said in unison. 

“ARGH! WHY MUST THE GREAT PAPYRUS SUFFER LIKE THIS?” 

..... 

Harry lay on his bed, using drumsticks on his ribs to make some music for himself while quietly humming along. He’d been living in the new house with Sans and Papyrus for two years now and he started to notice some differences in his brothers. Papyrus, for one, seemed to become even more excitable than ever before and a bit of a control freak, but Harry was more than okay with that. 

It was Sans that started to worry him. Sans had never been very active, in fact, he’d been lazy all his life, as far as Harry could see at least, but it seemed to get worse over time. He slept almost constantly and he seemed to become very apathetic, excluding when it involved him or Papyrus. He really cared about them, and Harry was sure that would never change. 

He sighed and rolled out of his bed, dropping his drumsticks again. He was bored. Maybe he could convince Sans to take him to see Alphys and they could watch anime together. He hadn’t seen her very often anymore in the past three years or so. He was getting worried about her too. She was isolating herself, which couldn’t mean anything good. 

“Sans?!” he called out, knocking on his brother’s door. 

There was some shuffling before Sans stood in front of him, rubbing under his eye socket. Harry sighed and shook his head. It was already three in the afternoon and Sans was still sleeping. This was getting out of hand. 

“Whatsit, baby bones?” Sans muttered lazily. 

“I want to go to Alphys’s,” Harry announced. 

Sans gave a loud sigh and nodded his head. 

“Lemme get my jacket and I’ll pop us over there,” he said. 

Harry brightened up instantly and bounced on his heels while Sans went back into his room to collect his trademark blue jacket. His room was a mess, making Harry wince. He wasn’t much of a clean freak, but he preferred it when everything had its own spot. Seeing Sans’s room made him want to tidy it up some. 

“Alright, let’s go,” Sans said, pulling the door to his room closed. 

He patted Harry’s skull and held out his hand. Harry quickly put his own hand in it and closed his eyes as Sans’s teleportation magic pulled them into one of his ‘shortcuts’. A moment later, they stood in the lab. 

“Alphys?! I brought the kid by!” Sans called out. 

There was no answer, making both skeletons scowl. Alphys usually answered right away, mostly with scolding Sans not to just appear in the middle of her lab unannounced, but never were they answered with such eerie silence. 

Tightening his hold on Harry’s hand, Sans started to explore the place. First the ground floor, but as no one could be found, the duo carefully made their way up the escalators. As soon as they reached the top, they could see it. 

“No!” Harry whimpered, hiding his face in his brother’s jacket. 

Sans wrapped an arm around the younger skeleton to protect him from the sight. Alphys’s white coat was lying on top of a pile of dust… 

“Surprised? _You shouldn’t be_ …” 

Harry tensed at the high-pitched, gleeful laughter. He shakily looked up, his eyes widening when he saw a golden flowers with a face, grinning teasingly at them. 

“You!” Sans growled hatefully. 

“Golly! You look angry!” the flower laughed.   
“Not happy with me, _smiley trash bag_?” 

Sans held Harry tighter as his left eye lit up. Harry recognized the familiar gust of wind as a Gaster Blaster appeared behind them, ready to attack. His eyes widened and he jumped out of his brother’s arms in a panic. 

“Wait!” he yelled. 

Sans tensed and the Gaster Blaster disappeared again. 

“Baby bones…” he murmured.   
“That thing dusted Alphys…” 

“How can you know that?” Harry demanded.   
“He’s just a flower! How can he have hurt Alphys, and why?” 

“Cause he’s done it before! Now get away from it!” 

Harry blinked and scowled. Done it before? But a monster could only die once, and Harry hadn’t heard about anyone else dying lately. 

“What do you- ARGH!” 

His chest exploded with pain midway his question, making the young skeleton scream out in agony. 

“ _Idiot_! You should have listened to your big brother, brat!” the flower laughed cruelly. 

Harry swallowed and looked down shakily. To his horror, he found a large, thorny vine protruding from his chest. As he slowly lifted his head again,  black spots now dancing in his vision while his body slowly went numb, he saw Sans standing petrified a few feet away, the lights in his eyes gone as he stared at him in horror. Harry opened his mouth to speak, but only a gush of blood escaped him. 

The vine pulling back out was more painful than when it went in. Harry groaned softly and his eye sockets closed as he fell forward. Before he fell on the floor, he was captured by his brother. 

“B-baby bones! Hang in there!” he heard Sans call out frantically.   
“I’ll fucking kill you for this, you weed! You won’t get away with this!” 

“And if you succeed, I’ll just reset and play all over again!” the flower laughed. 

Harry gasped and went slack in his oldest brother’s arms. He had lost all the feeling in his bones by now. He could almost literally feel his own life slowly draining from his SOUL.

"S-Sa-..."

Then everything went black. 

..... 

Harry lay on his bed, using drumsticks on his ribs to make some music for himself while quietly humming along. He’d been living in the new house with Sans and Papyrus for two years now and he started to notice some differences in his brothers. Papyrus wasn’t a problem, no, it was Sans that started to worry him. 

He sighed and rolled out of his bed, dropping his drumsticks again. He was bored. Maybe he could convince Sans to take him to see Alphys and they could watch anime together. 

“Sans?!” he called out, knocking on his brother’s door. 

No answer came. Harry sighed again and walked down the stairs. Sans was probably out at Grillby’s or something. He’d ask again later. Meanwhile, maybe Papyrus could use some help making puzzles. 

 


	4. This Is How I Die

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted on my own birthday! I'm 22 as of today (and yes, this is me fishing for birthday wishes in the comments)

_Dust… Dust everywhere…_

Harry drew his legs up higher and rested his chin on his knees while he looked at his oldest brother talking with Undyne and Alphys. Papyrus's red scarf was wrapped around his neck, hiding the lower half of his face from the rest of the world. That was good. He didn't want to be seen by anyone.

"I'll meet the human before they reach Hotland," Undyne spoke up.  
"If they can get past me, be ready to evacuate, Alphys."

"U-Undyne…" the scientist muttered, tears in her eyes.

"They won't get past me, Alphys," Undyne said grinning.  
"It's just in case, you know? Better safe than sorry in this case."

"I-I understand…"

"I need to go manage the Snowdin and Waterfall survivors. Warn the people in the Capital, Alph," Sans spoke up.  
"Harry will stay here with you. **Don't** let him out of your sight, deal? He's all I have left now."

Harry closed his eye sockets as translucent green tears slid down his cheekbones. His entire body was trembling in sorrow. He tensed when a hand pressed on top of his skull and looked up at his older brother. Sans sighed and cupped Harry's face gently.

"Don't burn out your eyes, kid," he said quietly.

Harry blinked a few times, realizing his eye sockets must be glowing with magic. He sniffed and wiped his tears away while trying to calm his magic down again.

"There ya go, good boy," Sans murmured, pressing his teeth gently against Harry's temple.  
"I need to go, but I want you to stay with Alphys. Don't leave her side, promise me that."

Harry refused to reply and instead looked away stubbornly. Sans sighed in defeat and walked away.

"See ya soon, kiddo," he muttered.

Harry didn't answer, not even when his brother disappeared in one of his 'shortcuts'. The young skeleton hid his face back into his knees and started sobbing more violently, uncaring that Alphys was still in the room. He was mourning the death of his brother. Alphys knew better than to interrupt that.

. . . . .

Harry stared blankly at the screen as Undyne the Undying slowly melted before turning to dust. It might just be him, but he had the odd feeling that this fight had taken much longer than it really had. As if it was meant to have a different outcome. He had hoped Undyne would win, but honestly, he had expected this ending much more. Now there was nothing stopping the human from walking straight into Hotland.

He looked at Alphys with a hollow expression. The Royal Scientist was sobbing uncontrollably, tears streaming down her lizard-like face, but Harry couldn't feel anything. Only rage was left behind.

"You should warn everyone," he murmured.

Alphys jerked and looked at him with wide eyes for a moment before sniffing sadly and nodded.

"… Y-yeah… I-I will…" she whispered.  
"L-let's g-get everyone t-together…"

Alphys scurried away instantly, not even looking back to see if Harry was following. That was good. Harry wasn't planning on joining her just yet. Not ever, actually. Not as long as that sadistic brother killer was still walking around.

Once he was sure that Alphys was gone, he wrapped his brother's scarf tighter around his neck and walked out the door. He'd be waiting for the human at the bridge into Hotland and fight them there. He wouldn't let that _thing_ go unpunished after all their crimes here in the Underground.

Hotland was definitely deserving for its name. Even as a skeleton, Harry could feel the scorching heath burn his bones. The scarf didn't help, but he wouldn't take it off until his dying breath, which might come sooner than he'd like, but he was willing to risk it to avenge his brother. He couldn't let that human just do what they pleased. Not with so many lives on the line. Harry looked back at the lab one last time and sighed before crossing the bridge.

Just as he reached his brother's illegal hotdog stand, he already heard soft footsteps crunching on the dry ground. The young skeleton closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was a little dizzy, so he leaned against the station and waited. He was scared. No, terrified. This human would most likely kill him, but he still had to try. He was a Halfling, he was, logically speaking, the one with the best chances to defeat the human once and for all.

The footsteps grew louder before they stopped in front of him. Harry gave a soft chuckle and opened his eyes, looking into the human's red eyes.

"Hey. I've been waiting for you," he said calmly.

All his fears were gone, and so was the burning rage. Now, all he felt was ice-cold hatred. It was truly the very first time in his life he felt like this. He'd never believed himself capable of this kind of intense hatred. His SOUL color was green for Kindness, after all. It was what he valued most in a person, what he always strived to give to those around him. Not this person though. Their LV was already up to 12. That was pretty bad.

"You know. Papyrus and I, all we ever wanted was to befriend you and show you kindness," Harry said.  
"It's what I loved about him so much, ya know? He was kind to everyone indiscriminately. He truly believed you could be a better person… and so did I…"

Harry closed his eyes again and took a deep, calming breath. He could feel the air around him shift, meaning he had now entered a 'fight'. His own tune started playing instantly and he swayed along with it. When he opened his eyes again, they were burning bright green and yellow.

" **I don't believe that anymore,"** he said darkly.  
**"You're just a disgusting, dirty, brother killing rat!"**

The human just gave a high-pitched laugh and crouched down, ready for Harry's first attack. Harry laughed too and lifted a hand, summoning four Gaster Blasters to attack the gutsy human. They dodged and lashed out with their knife, which Harry blocked with a bone.

"You've got **guts** , kid," Harry gritted out.  
"But, heh, good thing I've got a **spine**."

He lifted a hand again, this time sending a large wave of them crashing onto the human. They hit the human and one pierced their chest, making Harry laugh with humorless glee.

"Burn in hell, you disgusting piece of shit."

. . . . .

The footsteps grew louder before they stopped in front of him. Harry gave a soft chuckle and opened his eyes, looking into the human's red eyes.

"Hey. I've been waiting for you," he said calmly.

Something wasn't right here. He instantly conjured four Gaster Blasters, not trusting the human.

"This feels like deja-vu…" Harry muttered scowling.  
"Ah, whatever. Let's just get on with this, alright, _**Rat**_?"

The human gave a barking laugh and charged at him, dodging his attack with ease. Harry had barely the opportunity to conjure a bone in time before they were on him. Harry was able to block the human's knife, but the attack rattled his bones.

"You've got **guts** , kid," Harry gritted out.  
"But, heh, good thing I've got a **spine**."

He lifted a hand again, this time sending a large wave of them crashing onto the human. They jumped and dodged again, a deep scowl of concentration on their face. Harry felt a thrill of fear. It was as if the human had known which attack he would use…

"No matter. I have a lot more where that came from!" he growled.

. . . . .

_The light turned the castle hall, known my monsters as 'Judge Hall', a beautiful, soft golden. However, the human teen walking in had no eye for the beauty of their surroundings. They only focused on the short skeleton standing on the other side of the hall._

" _Heya," Sans greeted calmly as the human approached.  
"You've been busy huh? … So, I've got a question for ya."_

_The human just stood there, staring at Sans with a blank expression._

" _Do you think even the worst person can change…?" Sans asked.  
"That everyone can be a good person, if they just try?"_

_Again, the human didn't say anything and just continued staring, making Sans chuckle bitterly._

" _Heh heh heh heh… all right," he sighed.  
"Well, here's a better question."_

_He closed his eye sockets and when he opened them again, the two little dots that usually shone in them were completely gone, leaving two black voids in their wakes._

" _Do you wanna have a bad time?" Sans asked darkly, his grin somehow turning hateful without changing outwardly.  
"Cause if you take another step forward… you are really not going to like what happens next."_

_The human scoffed and stepped forward anyway, making Sans's smile widen a little more._

" _Welp. Sorry, old lady," the last surviving skeleton sighed.  
"This is why I never make promises."_

_The world turned black and white and the human's soul floated out of their chest, bright red and pulsing with power. Sans glanced at their stats. LV 19, ATK 99, DEF 99, HP 92. They really had killed everyone, hadn't they. The skeleton couldn't help himself from pressing a hand against his chest, where a light green upside down heart pulsed weakly against his own monster soul._

" _It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming… On days like this, kids like you…  
"S h o u l d  b e  b u r n i n g  i n  h e l l ."_

_The human tensed at the sudden change in tone at the last part. It had sounded like the younger skeleton. Harry, who they had already killed back in Hotland. Sans's grin turned dark and his left eye started glowing light blue while his right one turned light green instead. Harry's color._

" _Get dunked on you dirty brother killer."_

. . . . .

Harry sat upright, gasping loudly for breath while pressing a palm against his chest. He'd been having that same nightmare for the past four nights and it was really messing with him by now, but he still couldn't remember what it was about. All he could recall were bright red eyes and an evil grin.

Sighing, he rubbed his eye sockets and slid out of bed. One glance at his alarm clock told him it was 6:30 in the morning. Good enough to get up and prepare breakfast. He had to be fast anyway, because if Papyrus got to the kitchen before him, it would be spaghetti as breakfast, lunch and dinner and that was a little too much in Harry's opinion.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter, but I feel that everything that needed to be said here has been said, so anything else will come in the next chapter!


	5. Welcome to the Underground

Harry peeked his head out of the kitchen when he heard his brother walk down the stairs.

“Good morning, Pappy!” he greeted.

“GOOD MORNING, HARRINGTON! I AM SURPRISED TO SEE YOU UP THIS EARLY.”

“I was awake, I figured I could make breakfast,” Harry shrugged in reply.

“THAT IS VERY KIND OF YOU, LITTLE BROTHER,” Papyrus said smiling.

Harry laughed and went back into the kitchen to finish his pancakes. He had mixed some crabapples in the batch for a sweeter taste and added some magic in it because monsters like them couldn’t eat non-magical food. They literally had no intestines after all.

“IT LOOKS DELICIOUS AS ALWAYS, HARRY!” Papyrus complimented.

“Thanks, bro! Can you go get Sans?”

“OF COURSE! I WILL HAVE HIM DOWN INSTANTLY.”

Harry chuckled and started setting the table for the three of them. It was slowly becoming a habit for him to make breakfast. Especially this past week, where he’d been sleeping bad because of nightmares. Not the kind he’d had the first few years about green lights. Instead, he dreamt of red eyes and a terrible smile. He couldn’t remember more than that.

“SANS, YOU LAZY BONES! HARRY IS WAITING DOWNSTAIRS WITH BREAKFAST!”

Harry glanced over to the upstairs corridor and chuckled amused. It was the same every morning. Papyrus would try to wake up Sans, and Sans would refuse to get out of bed. The usual argument would ensue, filled with puns and enraged shouts before Papyrus eventually gave up and carried Sans down. But today, Harry had a secret weapon.

“I made pancakes with ketchup!” he called out.

There was a momentary flash, making Harry close his eyes and when he opened them again, Sans was sitting at the table.

“What? Walking down is too difficult now?” Harry asked jokingly.

“Yeah. I can’t handle that **level** of exercise this early in the day,” Sans replied.

Harry chuckled and put a plate of his special ketchup pancakes in front of his oldest brother while waiting for Papyrus to join them. The tallest of the trio looked very annoyed as he stomped down the stairs and took a seat at the table.

“SANS! I WISH YOU WOULD STOP USING SHORTCUTS INDOORS!” Papyrus sighed.

“What? Don’t like pop-ups?” Sans asked teasingly.

Harry laughed and Papyrus exploded. Family mornings were the best.

.              .              .               .              .

“SANS AND I WILL BE ON OUR PATROLS, HARRY,” Papyrus announced.

Sans was on his back, back to sleep as the tall skeleton carried him out of the house. Harry didn’t say anything about it. This was all business as usual. Nothing strange about this at all, no matter what the neighbors said.

Chuckling to himself, Harry sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. Mettaton’s Quiz show was on. As the young skeleton laid down, he made the resolution to himself to visit Alphys again one of these days. The otaku was almost always all on her own and it made Harry feel bad. She was really nice and he really enjoyed watching anime with her. He just had been too preoccupied with other things lately.

Halfway through Mettaton’s show, Harry fell asleep. The guy was pretty good and all, but Harry could only handle so much Mettaton. There was literally nothing else on TV… ever. Besides, he hadn’t slept well the past week, so he could definitely use some catching up.

_“That was all you got? Pathetic. Even your loser brother put up more of a fight.”_

Harry jerked away with a loud gasp and rubbed his eye sockets. Damnit! He couldn’t understand why he kept dreaming so weirdly… with a sigh, he turned off the TV and lazily rolled off the couch. Maybe Papyrus or Sans could use his help out there. Sans was probably asleep at his station, so he should go there and be his eyes and ears for a while. That way, Papyrus wouldn’t get as upset about their oldest brother’s laziness.

With a snap of his fingers, Harry took a shortcut to Sans’s sentry station. Who knew? Maybe he would stumble across something interesting while there. Sans seemed to have a nose for interesting things… even though he didn’t actually have a nose.

He arrived at the empty sentry station just as Sans walked over, leading a human child with him. Harry’s eye sockets widened, but he stayed quiet and instead sat on top of the station’s counter and waved at the nervous looking human. They were about twelve or thirteen, if he had to guess, with shoulder length brown hair with a messy fringe. Asian, if he still remembered the surface right.

“Quick, behind that conveniently shaped lamp,” Sans ordered the human.

Harry gave a soft giggle at the perplexed expression of the human as they saw the lamp almost exactly in the same shape as them. Still, they nodded and hurried to hide behind it. Just in time too because Papyrus showed up only moments later, calling Sans’s name.

“Sup, bro?” Sans asked casually, his eye-lights sparkling amused.

“YOU KNOW WHAT ‘SUP’ BROTHER!” Papyrus said annoyed.  
“IT’S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND YOUR STATION. WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!”

“Staring at this lamp. It’s really cool. Do you wanna look?” Sans replied.

Harry barked out a laugh and winked at the human, who was starting to look worried.

“NO!! I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!!” Papyrus yelled angrily, not noticing Harry's reaction.  
“WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!?! I WAN’T TO BE READY!!!”

Harry laughed a little louder, but quickly stopped and blinked innocently as Papyrus glared at him.

“What are the odds a human comes today anyway?” Harry shrugged.

The human pressed a hand over their mouth to stifle a snort, making Harry smirk.

“ODDS OR NOT, IT IS STILL POSSIBLE!!!” Papyrus shouted, stomping his foot before striking a pose.  
“I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN! THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS… WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT… RECOGNITION… I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD. PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE ME, ‘FRIEND?’ I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING.”

“Hmm…” Sans hummed.  
“Maybe this lamp will help you.”

“SANS!! YOU ARE NOT HELPING YOU LAZYBONES!!” Papyrus groaned.

“Hey, take it easy,” Sans said.  
“I’ve gotten a _ton_ of work done today. A **skele** -ton.”

Harry howled in laughter as Sans turned towards him and winked.

“SANS!!!” Papyrus shouted frustrated.

“C’mon, you’re smiling!” Harry pointed out cheerfully.

“I AM AND I HATE IT,” Papyrus grumbled.

“Looks like even you have a **funny bone** ,” the youngest of the three skelebros teased.

“UGH!!! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES,” Papyrus sighed.  
“AS FOR YOUR, SANS, WORK. PUT A LITTLE MORE **‘BACKBONE’** INTO IT!!! NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!”

Harry laughed joyously as Papyrus walked away, laughing smugly at his own pun.

“Alright. You can come out now,” Sans told the human.

They were still giggling softly as they stepped out of their hiding place, their face alight with childish glee. It made Harry’s SOUL sing with happiness. The human just looked so bright and innocent! He waved again as the human left again after promising Sans to play along with Papyrus’s puzzles.

“Let’s go meet up with them ahead,” Sans suggested, holding out his hand for Harry to grasp.

Harry chuckled. He was nearly an adult, but Sans had a habit of still treating him like a baby bones. He didn’t mind, per se, but it could be frustrating sometimes. Still, he grabbed his older brother’s hand and followed him through a ‘shortcut’ ahead on the human’s many trials on their way to Snowdin.

.              .              .               .              .

“YOU KNOW, SOMETHING STRANGE HAPPENED LAST TIME I WAS TRAINING WITH UNDYNE,” Papyrus spoke up.

“Oh. Was there maybe…”

“SANS NO!!”

“Sans yes!” Harry giggled, winking at his bros.

“… something **fishy**?” Sans finished chuckling.

“WHY MUST YOU TWO PLAGUE MY LIFE LIKE THIS?!”

Harry laughed amused at Papyrus’s tantrum while Sans just shrugged.

“SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE…” Papyrus started again, but stopped as he spotted the human walking down the path towards them.

Papyrus turned his head to look at Sans and Harry before looking back at the human, then back at them, then the human again and so one and so forth. Harry and Sans played along, turning their heads back and forth between each other and the human along with Papyrus. Eventually, they turned away and Papyrus threw his arms over the both of them, huddling them all close together.

“SANS!! OH MY GOD!! IS THAT…A HUMAN!?!?!?!?!” Papyrus exclaimed.

They turned their heads back at the human and Sans stared thoughtfully, as if trying to figure it out himself.

“uhhhh… Actually, I think that’s a rock,” he said eventually.

Indeed, a few feet behind the human lay a rock on the path.

“OH.”

“Hey, what’s that in front of the rock?” Harry asked amused.

“OH MY GOD!!” Papyrus shouted before leaning closer to Sans to whisper.  
“IS… IS THAT A HUMAN?”

“Yes,” Sans whispered in reply.

“OH MY GOD!!! BROTHERS! I FINALLY DID IT!” Papyrus cheered.  
“UNDYNE WLL… I’M GONNA… I’LL BE SO… POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!”

He calmed down again rapidly and cleared his throat before taking a heroic stance.

“HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU!!!! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU!” he shouted happily.  
“YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN… THEN!!! I’M NOT SURE WHAT’S NEXT. IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE… ONLY IF YOU DARE!!!”

With that, he took off in the direction of his puzzles, laughing loudly and excitedly, which made both Harry and Sans chuckle a little. As the human approached, Sans grinned at them.

“Well, that went well,” he said.

“Haven’t seen Pappy that lively in a while,” Harry agreed.  
“We should get going though. Help set up the puzzles.”

He started walking away while Sans patted the kid on the head.

“Don’t sweat it, kid. I’ll keep an eye socket out for ya,” he said before following Harry.

.              .              .               .              .

“YOU TWO ARE SO LAZY! YOU HAVE BEEN NAPPING ALL NIGHT!!”

Harry rolled his eyes and looked at the path, where the human just walked up to their electric maze puzzle. He gave them a little wink and waved, making them giggle and wave back.

“I think that’s called… sleeping,” Sans pointed out.

“EXCUSES, EXCUSES!”

“Uh… guys?” Harry called out, pointing at the human.

Papyrus brightened up instantly as he spotted them.

“OH-HO! THE HUMAN ARRIVES!” he said gleefully.  
“IN ORDER TO STOP YOU… MY BROTHERS AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES!”

“I think you’ll find this one… quite shocking,” Harry added with a wink.

“YES! FOR AS YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE!!!” Papyrus announced proudly pulling a blue orb from his clothes.  
“WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! SOUNDS LIKE FUN??? BECAUSE! THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL PROBABLY BE HAVING! IS ACTUALLY RATHER SMALL I THINK. OK, YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW.”

Harry eyed the orb for a few moments before looking over at the human. They seemed pretty scared and were looking the way of him and Sans in the hope of finding some help, so Harry gave his thumbs up. the human gave an unsteady smile and nodded before taking the first careful step forward. Instantly, Papyrus was harshly zapped, making Harry fall over laughing.

“SANS!!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!” Papyrus shouted.

“Hey. I’m not the one laughing here,” Sans shot back.

“HARRY!!!”

“I-I t-think the h-human h-has to… haha… h-hold the orb, hehe,” Harry wheezed.

“OH, OKAY.”

Papyrus walked to the other side of the maze, leaving deep footprints in the fresh snow.

“HOLD THIS PLEASE!” he said, pushing the orb in the human’s arms.

He ran all the way back over the same path and took his place again next to a still giggling Harry and a half-asleep Sans.

“OKAY, TRY NOW!”

The human grinned and followed Papyrus’s trail step by step until they reached the other side where they handed the orb back to Papyrus.

“INCREDIBLE!!! YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL!! YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY… TOO EASILY!” Papyrus said shocked.  
“HOWEVER!! THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE EASY! IT IS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS! YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM! NYEHEHEHEHE!!”

“Great job, kid!” Harry said, clapping them on the shoulder.  
“By the way. What’s your name? It’s not fair you know ours, but we don’t know you.”

“Oh! I’m Frisk!” the human said cheerfully.

“Well. Nice to meet you, Frisk,” Harry said, ruffling their hair before walking away, letting them talk with Sans for a while.

.              .              .               .              .

Papyrus arrived at the next puzzle five minutes after Harry and it took another ten minutes before Sans showed up, shortly followed by the human. They looked a lot happier than before and a little bit out of breath. They had a healthy blush in their cheeks, meaning they had been keeping themselves very busy. Harry looked over at Sans questioningly, hoping for a little explanation since the oldest was staying close to the kid.

“They played the ball game until they got the red flag,” Sans shrugged.

Harry chuckled and looked ahead again, listening to Papyrus’s monologue.

“HUMAN!!! I HOPE YOU’RE READY FOR…” he started before stopping and frowning.  
“SANS!! WHERE’S THE PUZZLE!!!”

“It’s right there, on the ground,” Sans replied, pointing at the paper lying in the snow.  
“Trust me. There’s no way they can get past this one.”

The human walked up to the piece of paper and picked it up. Their smile widened and they laughed softly before walking up to the three of them and showing Papyrus the already finished word search.

“SANS!” Papyrus shouted frustrated.

“Sorry,” Harry chuckled, shrugging.  
“I got bored waiting for you guys.”

Papyrus’s hand connected with his skull and he sighed loudly, making Harry and Frisk chuckle again.

“I knew I should have used today’s crossword instead,” Sans said.

“No way! You should have used the Sudoku,” Harry disagreed.  
“You know I’m bad with numbers. I would have left that alone.”

“WHAT?? I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU TWO!!” Papyrus exclaimed.  
“IN MY OPNINION… JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST.”

“What? Really, dude? That easy-peasy word scramble? That’s for baby bones.” Sans said teasingly.

“UN. BELIEVABLE,” Papyrus sighed.  
“HUMAN!!! SOLVE THIS DISPUTE!”

“Yeah, Frisk. Which is hardest? Junior Jumble, Crossword or Sudoku?” Harry asked.

The human looked between them for a moment before smiling.

“Junior Jumble!” they replied cheerfully.

“HA! HA! YES!” Papyrus cheered.  
“HUMANS MUST BE VERY INTELLIGENT IF THEY ALSO FIND JUNIOR JUMBLE SO DIFFICULT!”

Papyrus turned away and walked off, laughing pleased to himself. Harry chuckled.

“Thanks for saying Junior Jumble just appease our brother,” Harry said as Frisk approached.

“Papyrus… finds difficulty in the strangest places,” Sans said.  
“Yesterday he got stumped trying to ‘solve’ the horoscope.”

The human pressed a hand over their mouth and giggled in amusement before continuing forward, waving cheerfully at the two skeletons. Harry and Sans waved back before taking a shortcut ahead.

.              .              .               .              .

Harry watched from between the trees as the human met the dogs of the Royal Guard and defeated them all by petting. It was absolutely adorable, though the way they kept petting Lesser Dog until their neck was stretched so far it bumped back into the snowy ground was a little disturbing. And so were the snow arts they made afterwards.

They also solved Papyrus’s X to O puzzle in a minute, which impressed Harry a little. After that came Alphys’s puzzle, which was a hilarious disaster when it revealed an easy path right through the middle to let the human through. Papyrus had been horrified, and Harry hadn’t been able to talk to the human because he couldn’t breathe.

The ice puzzle was a bit of a hard time for the human. They fell several times next to their snow **skull** -tures and seemed to really enjoy Papyrus’s work. After falling five times, they got past and met Greater Dog. Harry smiled and left Frisk alone when he saw them playing with the over-excited Greater Dog. They’d get through without a problem.

.              .              .               .              .

Harry was sitting cross-legged in the snow as Frisk finally arrived at the bridge for their last challenge. He wasn’t all that worried about it, even though this one was the only one that was actually deadly. Papyrus was too sweet to hurt a human kid anyways.

“HUMAN! THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE!” Papyrus announced loudly.  
“BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLED OF DEADLY TERROR! WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE!!!”

Many deadly weapons had appeared in front of the human, all dangling over the bridge. Harry could see the human pale in fear and he gave them a pitying look. It had to be terrifying to stand there right now.

“CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN!!! ARE YOU READY?! BECAUSE! I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!!!”

Everything was quiet for a moment. The human was trembling in fear, yet they still didn’t run. Harry was impressed with their bravery. He could see Papyrus was conflicted, but knew the human couldn’t discern any facial expression from any of them. They were skeletons after all.

“Well?” Sans asked.  
“What’s the holdup?”

“WHAT?! WHAT HOLDUP?!” Papyrus countered.  
“I’M… I’M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IS NOW!”

Again, everything fell quiet for a short moment, making Harry snort amused. Yeah… Papyrus wasn’t going to do anything.

“That doesn’t look very activated to me,” he pointed out.

“WELL!!! THIS CHALLENGE!!! IT SEEMS… TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH,” Papyrus muttered.  
“YEAH!! WE CAN’T USE THIS ONE! I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS!!! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!”

Harry watched with a wide grin as all the deadly traps disappeared again. He could see the relief clearly written on the human’s face, as well as on Papyrus’s. This was good. Maybe they could all be friends instead! That would be great.

“WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!?” Papyrus asked the human.  
“THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS!! NYE! HEH! … HEH???”

With that, Papyrus turned around and walked back to Snowdin, leaving Harry and Sans to await the human for some more small talk. Frisk took a deep, calming breath and walked over the bridge to Sans.

“I don’t know what my brother’s going to do now,” he admitted.  
“If I were you, I would make sure I understand **blue attacks**.”

“How good are you with jumping?” Harry asked as Frisk looked at him, before chuckling at the confused look.  
“Never mind. Up ahead is Snowdin. So just relax, buy some nice food, visit Grillby’s, sleep in the Inn… Or, you know. Come visit us!”

“Thanks!” Frisk replied cheerfully before moving forward.

“Welp, looks like we can go home again,” Sans said lazily.

“And sleep the day away. Stalking a human is tiring,” Harry joked.

“You get me, kiddo,” Sans chuckled.

 


	6. Snowdin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since some people asked about it, this is what I think is Harry’s battle theme:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr-rnZIoMkU  
> It would be called “Battle Bones” and of course he has his own regular theme too, which will just be called “Hedwig’s Theme” as a throwback to what his life would have been had he stayed on the surface.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phwymcgYJpc  
> Anyway, I hope you agree with them! If not, I won’t change it.  
> Also, I am working on a character design for Harry and some artwork for this story, which I will post on my Tumblr and DeviantArt (both of which are also under the name CrazyJanaCat) once I get the hang of the drawingpad because I literally just started a few days ago with digital art, so it might take a while before I can finish it.

After Sans had left back home, Harry made his way to Snowdin to meet up with Frisk. He used his own shortcut to reach the edge of town right before the human and greeted them with a cheerful wave.

“Hey! I thought you might want a guide around Snowdin,” he said.

Frisk blushed a little and nodded their head, making Harry smirk. He held out a hand for them to take, which they did after a short moment of hesitation.

“No whoopee cushions or hand buzzers. I only make jokes to annoy Papyrus,” Harry admitted.  
“C’mon. I’ll treat you on a good meal at Grillby’s. How’s that sound to you? He’s got the best burgers.”

“That sounds nice,” Frisk replied softly.

“Great! Let’s go!”

He led Frisk through the town, telling them all the interesting little anecdotes about the monsters they came across. The human listened with rapt attention, laughing at the funny parts and asking questions when they found something particularly fascinating. Harry was reminded of when he had been new to the Underground himself and Sans had done the same for him.

Eventually, they reached the bar and Harry opened the door for Frisk, who giggled and bowed for him in thanks. Harry laughed and walked up to a free booth. The two of them sat down and moments later, Grillby walked up to their table to take their order.

“Two burgers, Grillbz,” Harry ordered.

The fire elemental nodded and walked back away.

“I swear. His burgers are the best in the Underground. You’ll love them,” Harry ensured with a bright grin.  
“Anyway. I was kind of curious what you thought of my bros. It was really great to see how you went along with all of Pap’s puzzles. He worked really hard on them.”

“It was fun!” Frisk said cheerfully, smiling brightly.  
“Papyrus is really amazing and passionate about his puzzles, and he’s really cute! And Sans is so cool and funny.”

Harry laughed and nodded his head.

“They’re amazing, right? I’m so lucky I can call them my brothers.”

“You’re pretty amazing too,” Frisk said blushing.

Harry tensed, his eye sockets widening in surprise.

“You’re really kind and caring. Not only with your brothers, but with everyone… aren’t you?”

Harry laughed softly.

“My magic is green for a reason, I suppose,” he murmured.

“What?” Frisk asked confused.

Harry shook his head and leaned back in his seat as Grillby returned with their food.

“Thanks, Grillbz. It looks delicious like always,” he said.

Grillby nodded and walked away again while Harry grabbed the burger right away.

“Dig in, kid,” he said.

Frisk scowled, but did as told and the two ate in a comfortable silence. Grillby had given them each a soda free of charge too, which Harry had thanked him for again.

“You know, I can’t help but feel as if I’ve gone through all this before…” Harry admitted in a soft murmur.

He noticed Frisk suddenly tense up, their eyes widening in shock. It was a bit strange that they reacted so heavily, but Harry shrugged it off. He gave a soft chuckle and shook his head before taking a few gulps of his soda.

“I guess the sense of déja-vu is because it’s a bit similar to the way I first entered Snowdin,” he confessed.  
“Not the puzzles or anything. Just… the situation I guess? It doesn’t really matter. It was a really long time ago anyway.”

“… Maybe…” Frisk whispered, sounding oddly sad and… guilty?  
“I-I… think I should go now. I want to visit the shop and then get going…”

“Do you want me to go with you?” Harry asked.

“No. That’s fine,” Frisk mumbled quietly.

“Let’s at least exchange phone numbers,” Harry said.  
“Come, give me your phone for a moment, Frisk.”

The human handed him their phone and Harry quickly ticked in his phone number under the name ‘Sexy Bone’ before pressing the ‘call’ button. His own phone rang and he clicked it off. He quickly stored the number as ‘Frisky Bits’ and handed Frisk’s phone back with a wide grin.

“There! Now you can reach me whenever you need!” he said proudly.  
“Or just to talk. I won’t mind at all. You’re a good kid. I’m happy we’re friends.”

With that, the human stood up and hurried out of the building. Harry scowled confused. Frisk had seemed pretty upset. Was it something he had said? Sighing, he stood up and walked to the bar to pay Grillby for the food. He added the money for the drinks too, winking when Grillby raised a brow.

“It’s a tip,” he said.

.              .              .               .              .

“I’m home!” Harry called out, slamming the front door open.

“The entire town can hear,” Sans replied chuckling.

Harry conjured a tongue and stuck it out at his two brothers sitting on the couch, watching TV. With a sigh, Harry walked over and forced himself in between them, much to Papyrus’s annoyance and Sans’s amusement.

“By the way. I was at Grillby’s earlier and he wants to know when you’ll pay your tab.”

Sans groaned loudly and sunk deeper into the pillows, pulling his hood over his head. Harry laughed at the pouting look on his oldest brother’s face while Papyrus leaned over him to hit Sans on his skull with a loud explanation of the elder’s name.

“SANS!!! YOU STILL HAVEN’T PAID YOUR TAB?! HOW HORRIBLE!!”

“I’m gonna pay it at the end of the week,” Sans muttered, sending a playful glare at Harry.

The teenage skeleton laughed and turned away to followed Mettaton’s cooking show. He was making a chocolate cake. Maybe Harry could ask the recipe next time he saw Mettaton and surprise his big bros. That would be nice.

.              .              .               .              .

Harry and Sans watched as Papyrus ran through the house, getting ready to go out and battle the human. Sans was nearly half asleep while Harry just watched the tallest of the three run around.

“SANS! YOU SHOULD BE AT YOUR STATION!!” Papyrus scolded.

“Why? There won’t come a second human,” Sans muttered sleepily.

“IT IS OUR DUTY TO HELP MONSTERS IN NEED!!” Papyrus said scowling.  
“WHAT IF SOMEONE NEEDS HELP, BUT THERE IS NO ONE AT THE POST?!”

“Alright. Fine,” Sans sighed.  
“I’ll head to Waterfall. Say hi to the kid for me, alright?”

“And I’ll just stay here all by my lonesome,” Harry sighed miserably.

“Nah. I’ll keep you company,” Sans said, winking.  
“I’m on break anyway.”

“UGH!! YOU’RE TERRIBLE, SANS!!!”

Papyrus glared at the oldest skeleton one last time before storming out of the house. Harry chuckled and got up out the couch.

“I’ll be in my room if you need me,” he said.

“There’s an idea. I’m tired,” Sans agreed.

There was a bright flash of light and Sans was gone, making Harry sigh and shake his head.

“Taking the stairs won’t kill you, you know!” he shouted.

“Anything is possible, kid!” Sans called back from his room.

.              .              .               .              .

“SANS! HARRY! I HAVE A DATE WITH THE HUMAN!!” Papyrus shouted as he came back home.

Harry put his book down and walked up to his bedroom door to look down at what was going on.

“Seriously?” Sans asked, peeking out of his door.

“You do realize the human is, like… twelve, right?” Harry asked.

“BUT HUMANS AGE DIFFERENTLY THAN US,” Papyrus pointed out.  
“I MUST GO OUTSIDE AND WAIT FOR THE HUMAN! NYEHEHE!!!”

Harry sighed and shook his head.

“I wanna tell him that Frisk is still a kid in human terms,” he said smirking.

“Don’t you dare,” Sans replied with a scowl.  
“Besides, it’s gonna be super innocent. Pap’s still a kid too.”

Harry laughed and nodded in agreement before closing his door again. There was a soft click outside, which meant Sans had locked himself in again too. Harry chuckled to himself and went back to his reading. It was one of Alphys’s comics.

Only minutes later, Harry heard the front door open and close and he put down his book again, trying to listen to what Papyrus and his date were up to.

“WELCOME TO SCENIC MY HOUSE! ENJOY AND TAKE YOUR TIME!!!”

Alright. Just a tour around the house then. For now at least. That was more than fine with Harry. He wondered what Pappy would tell them about the sock in the corner with all the sticky note arguments or the sprinkles covered pet rock…

“WHAT?!? CATCH THAT MEDDLING CANINE!” he heard Papyrus yell suddenly.

This made the youngest skeleton chuckle. That Annoying Dog always got into the house somehow and messed with Papyrus’s bone collection.

“CURSES!!!”

There was another ‘click’ as Sans opened his door again and Harry laughed out loud when he heard the failure music on his oldest bros trombone. That was stayed funny.

“SANS! STOP PLAGUING MY LIFE WITH INCIDENTAL MUSIC!!!”

Yup. The date with the human was going great, it seemed.

After another few minutes of listening to Papyrus explaining every little part of the house, Harry heard a knock on his door. Blinking a bit in surprise, Harry dropped the comic back on his bed and opened the door to find Frisk standing in front of him.

“Hiya, kid!” he greeted cheerfully.  
“How’s your date with Pap going?”

Frisk gave him a smile and a thumbs up before glancing into his room. It was relatively orderly. To Harry at least. Everything had its own place where Harry could easily find it back. However, he knew that to anyone else, it was complete chaos.

“Well, have fun and come knocking if you need anything,” he said grinning.  
“Don’t bother trying to talk to Sans. He likes his privacy when it’s his room.”

Frisk nodded and walked towards Papyrus’s room instead.

“THAT’S MY ROOM! IF YOU’VE FINISHED LOOKING AROUND… WE COULD GO IN AND… DO WHATEVER PEOPLE DO WHEN THEY DATE???”

Frisk chuckled and glanced at Harry, waggling their brows with a small smirk. Harry laughed and winked before retreating back to his own room, closing the door behind him. He hoped he wouldn’t hear anything… unusual from Papyrus’s room though…

There was another knock on his door, which opened before he could get back up from his bed. Harry glared weakly at Sans as the smaller skeleton casually strolled into his room.

“I’m heading to my station in Waterfall,” Sans said.  
“Keep Paps out of trouble, alright kiddo?”

“On it, big bro,” Harry said, giving Sans a thumbs up.

Sans chuckled and turned away, closing Harry’s door again as he left. With a sigh, Harry returned to his comic. He hoped there wouldn’t be any more interruptions now. It was a great story and he wanted to finish it before his next visit to Alphys.

.              .              .               .              .

Harry heard his brother’s door open and close before the soft sound of small feet walked down the stairs. The front door creaked open and closed, indicating the human had now left again. Harry quickly finished his comic and got up from his bed to go see Papyrus. He knocked on Pap’s door and stepped into the room, finding Papyrus putting on his ‘battle body’.

“So, how was the date?” Harry asked.

“I COULDN’T RETURN THEIR FEELINGS,” Papyrus sighed.  
“SO WE HAVE DECIDED TO STAY FRIENDS INSTEAD.”

“That’s nice,” Harry muttered.

“IT IS!!!” Papyrus agreed cheerfully.  
“I MUST GO NOW. UNDYNE ASKED ME TO REPORT ON THE HUMAN’S STATUS!”

This made Harry scowl.

“What’ll you tell her?” he asked worried.

“I’LL SIMPLY SAY THAT I COULDN’T CAPTURE THEM!!” Papyrus replied.  
“MAYBE IF I EXPLAIN THAT THIS HUMAN IS SO NICE, SHE WON’T WANT TO CAPTURE THEM ANYMORE EITHER!!!”

“Yeah. Maybe,” Harry muttered skeptically.  
“Anyway, I’m leaving too. I promised Alphys I’d visit.”

“VERY WELL. BE HOME ON TIME!!”

Harry chuckled and turned away, snapping his fingers to open up a shortcut to Hotland.

 


	7. Killer Robot

Harry and Alphys sat in front of the large monitor, watching the human progress through Waterfall. The chase with Undyne brought up mixed feelings with the both of them, they were both rooting for the human, but they also liked Undyne…

“This is so epic and yet sad at the same time…” Alphys mumbled.

“Frisk is pretty much just running and Undyne is missing with her spears,” Harry muttered, shrugging.

“B-but look at th-those dodging skills!” Alphys exclaimed.

Harry chuckled amused and looked back at the screen. Frisk came to a sudden halt to avoid the spears appearing in front of them and ducked to the side.

“Yeah. That’s pretty amazing,” he agreed.

“I know right!!” the Royal Scientist gushed.

Harry laughed and dug his hands deeper into his pockets. This was better entertainment than anime, though he’d never say that to Alphys. He wasn’t interested into another lecture about how superior Mew Mew Kissy Cutie was compared to _everything_ else. She loved that shit and Harry didn’t have the heart to tell her it wasn’t his thing, so he watched it with her all the same.

“So what’s the plan when the human arrives here?” Harry asked curiously.

“I-I’ll help them, of course!” Alphys replied grinning excitedly.  
“I-I‘ll g-guide them a-all the way t-to the castle and the Barrier.”

There was something in her eyes Harry didn’t like, but he ignored it and turned back to the screen. He scowled a little in thought. He wanted to help Frisk get out of this place just as much as Alphys wanted. The Underground was no place for a human, but he also knew that Frisk would need a monster SOUL to pass the Barrier, which meant they’d have to kill Asgore… He hoped there was another way around it.

“I-I need to use the bathroom. Tell me what happened,” Alphys muttered.

Harry nodded and didn’t point out her blatant lie. He knew it wasn’t a bathroom behind that door, but the elevator to her true lab. He hadn’t been in there since he was a little kid, though. She’d locked even Sans out after the ‘incident’. After she’d started working with the monsters who had ‘fallen down’. Harry never asked her about it. He could see how hard she took it all as it was. All he could do was support her.

The human was almost at Hotland by now, but suddenly stopped running to pick up the phone. Harry laughed perplexed when Undyne stopped a few feet behind Frisk and tapped her foot impatiently while waiting until the phone call was over. He recalled Papyrus saying he’d invite the human to Undyne’s to try and make them friends. His guess was that’s what the call was about. Only Papyrus had that kind of timing after all.

Shaking his head in amusement, Harry watched as Undyne fainted from the heat on the bridge into Hotland while Frisk frantically filled a glass of water to pour over her and wake her again. Undyne got back up, gave Frisk a strange look before turning away and walking back the way she came.

“Welp. Looks like I’m gonna say hi,” Harry muttered to himself.

He turned away from the screen and exited through the door. Alphys was going to be sulking in her lab for a while anyway. Meeting the human soon would definitely light up her world. Alphys was a total fangirl after all. It was actually kind of hilarious.

Harry pushed away from the wall as he saw the human approach, her eyes lighting up at the sight of him, making the youngest of skeletons chuckle softly in amusement. The kid was nice. He really liked them, and apparently, the feeling was mutual.

“Hey there, Frisk!” he greeted cheerfully.  
“Looks like you’re making good progress.”

The human nodded their head eagerly, making Harry chuckle again.

“You know, if you ever want to go back to Snowdin or, say, Waterfall where Undyne lives, you can ask for a ride from the Riverperson,” Harry said, jerking his thumb to the river bank.  
“They’re very kind and it’s an easy and fast way to get around. Just go to the river bank over there. And don’t worry about missing them. They’ll be around when you need them.”

“Thank you, Harry,” the kid said cheerfully.

“Anytime, Frisky,” Harry said winking.  
“You got my number, right? Call me whenever you need help.”

“I will! Thanks again, Harry!”

With a cheerful wave, Frisk turned away and ran to the river bank, where the Riverperson was waiting with their boat. Harry shook his head fondly. He might not think highly of humanity, but this kid was pretty great. He was happy he could call them his friend.

“Good luck, kid,” he muttered before taking a shortcut back home.

.              .              .               .              .

Sans was watching TV as Harry popped into the house. He looked over and waved lazily before refocusing back on the show that was on. Just some old reruns it seemed, nothing new.

“Pap’s with Undyne?” Harry asked, sitting down next to his older brother.

“Yeah. He was gonna meet the human there,” Sans replied shrugging.

Harry chuckled and nodded.

“Yeah. I saw them in Hotland, like a minute ago,” Harry informed his older brother.  
“They outran Undyne, so I pointed them the way to the Riverperson and told them where she lives.”

Sans laughed quietly and shook his head in amusement.

“The kid is going to get themselves killed one day,” he muttered.

“They remind me of me,” Harry said teasingly.  
“At their age, I wanted to save the world with hugs too.”

“At your age, I wanted to watch the world burn,” Sans snorted.

Harry laughed and pushed his shoulder against Sans’s.

“You still would,” he said amused.

“Why’d you say that?” Sans asked surprised.

“Because you’re too lazy to get water and put it out!”

He laughed, even as Sans sat up on his knees on the couch, facing him.

“Sounds like someone’s asking for some tickle revenge!” Sans said grinning.

“NOO! HAHAHAHAHA! Mercy, Sans! Mercy!”

“Nah. I think I’ll keep torturin’ you for a while.”

“STO-OH-OH-OH-OP!!”

“Get dunked on, Harry.”

.              .              .               .              .

Before long, Papyrus had returned to find Harry and Sans sound asleep on the couch with the TV still on and proceeded to wake them up and scold them. The two shorter skelebros stared at him with sleepy, vacant eyes and nodded along with his rant, not hearing a single word of what he was saying. Harry blinked a few times, wondering is Papyrus would notice if he fell asleep again and turned to the TV, which was still on.

“HARRY, SANS! YOU ARE NOT EVEN LISTENING TO ME!!!” Papyrus shouted, standing in front of the TV.

“Of course we’re listening!” Harry scoffed.

“THEN WHAT WAS I SAYING?” Papyrus asked.

“Dunno. We weren’t listening,” Sans replied.

Papyrus pressed his hands over his eye sockets and screamed in frustration, causing the two shorter skeletons to laugh loudly. This Had Papyrus stomp his feet in frustration and he moved to stand in front of the TV.

“AFTER ALL THIS HARD WORK, I DON’T EVEN GET ANY RESPECT IN MY OWN HOUSE!!!”

“Aww, come on, Pappy! We respect you!” Harry said.

“No, we really don’t,” Sans disagreed with a chuckle.

“Don’t say that!” the youngest exclaimed, hitting Sans’s arm.

“SANS!! STOP PLAGUING ME!” Papyrus yelled.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Scowling, Papyrus turned away from his two brothers and went to open it, revealing an out of breath Undyne.

“UNDYNE?? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” Papyrus asked shocked.

“My house burned down,” the fish woman replied as she stepped inside.

“Again?” Sans asked.

Undyne glared at him for a moment before sighing and chuckling softly.

“Yeah. Again,” she replied shrugging.  
“Anyway, I was hoping I could stay here a while.”

“OF COURSE YOU CAN!” Papyrus said immediately.  
“THE COUCH IS YOURS FOR AS LONG AS YOU NEED.”

“Thanks, Papyrus,” Undyne said before she walked over to the couch and sat down next to Harry.  
“So, what’re you nerds watching anyway? something exciting I hope?”

“Nah, just watching-” Harry started, but stopped as he looked back to the TV.

His eye sockets widened when he saw Frisk on the screen. With a distressed gasp, he scrambled for the remote and turned the volume up higher. Sans sat up straight as he turned to look and Papyrus fell silent, staring on wonder as their human friend starred on Mettaton’s Quiz Show.

 _“NEVER PLAYED BEFORE, GORGIOUS?”_ Mettaton asked the human.  
_“NO PROBLEM! IT’S SIMPLE! THERE’S ONLY ONE RULE. ANSWER CORRECTLY… OR YOU DIE!!”_

“WOWIE!!! THE HUMAN IS ALREADY A TV STAR!” Papyrus marveled.

“Woah!!! That’s so awesome!!!” Undyne shouted excitedly, pumping her fists in the air.

Harry slapped a hand over his mouth and shook his head, his eye sockets wide in horror.

“Oh, Alphys… what the hell are you doing?” he mumbled.

“The old lady will kill me,” Sans sighed almost at the same time, shaking his head miserably.

Harry scowled at that and looked questioningly at his oldest brother, but Sans just shook his head as if saying he shouldn’t ask yet. Since Harry was a firm believer of privacy, he let it slide and turned his attention back to the show. He really hoped Frisk would survive Mettaton. Alphys _had_ said she had a plan, after all…

 _“LET’S START WITH AN EASY ONE!!”_ the robotic entertainer said.  
_“What’s the prize for answering correctly? A) Money B) Mercy C) New car D) More questions.”_

“Oh no…” Harry muttered while Sans slapped his forehead with a groan.

“Oh yes!!!” Undyne exclaimed, practically vibrating with energy on the couch.

“I HOPE THEY WIN A CAR!!” Papyrus shouted excitedly.

A little behind Mettaton, Harry saw Alphys make a D out of her hands. So that was her plan. She was going to win the human’s trust by becoming their protector.

“Doesn’t she realize how badly this can backfire?” Harry wondered aloud.

“Knowing Alphys, she believes life is just like an anime,” Sans replied dryly.  
“She probably thinks everything will end up peachy, even if things go wrong.”

The next question was the king’s full name and Frisk answered once again correctly, though Harry sincerely hoped that was without Alphys’s hint because Lord Fluffyuns, Fuzzy Pushover and Dr. Friendship were not even actual names.

“I’m going to call her,” Harry muttered.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Alphys’s number while glaring at the screen. The next question was another easy one and after that was a ridiculous math problem a 12 year-old was unlikely to know the answer to, especially not in the time-span given. Luckily Alphys was kind of a genius.

The phone rang a few times, but no one answered. Considering there was no sign of it on the TV, meant Alphys didn’t have it on hand as she gave the answer of the number of flies in the jar. Harry snorted at that. The only way she could know the answer to that was if she had been there to count them in the first place, proving this was all rigged.

“I’m so going to give her an earful next time I see her,” he muttered.

The next question showed a picture of Froggit’s face and asked what monster it was. Of course, the answer wasn’t Froggit at all, but Mettaton because that was exactly the kind of narcissistic asshole the robot was.

 _“Would you smooch a ghost?”_ Mettaton asked.

All the answers were Heck Yeah, making Sans burst out laughing.

“Holy shit! Can he get any more obvious?!” he gasped out.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND IT,” Papyrus said scowling.  
“HOW CAN YOU SMOOCH A GHOST? THEY ARE INCORPOREAL!”

Harry chuckled.

“Yeah. Silly Mettaton,” he said smirking.

 _“TIME TO BREAK OUT THE BIG GUNS!!”_ Mettaton announced after another unfair question about the number of letters in his own name.  
_“In the dating simulation video game “Mew Mew Kissy Cutie” what is Mew Mew’s favorite food?”_

Of course, here Alphys had to jump in excitedly and fall into a long winded monologue about the subject and got herself busted by Mettaton. Harry tuned her out halfway through and absently wondered if that was scripted too or if it was Mettaton’s own work. He guessed probably the latter one.

 _“ALPHYS, ALPHYS, ALPHYS! YOU AREN’T HELPING OUR CONTESTANT, ARE YOU?”_ Mettaton scolded.

Alphys shook her head nervously, sweating a little as she gave a shaky smile at the robot.

“Here comes the drama we all know and hate,” Sans sighed lazily.

“HUSH, BROTHER!! IT’S JUST GETTING INTERESTING!!!”

 _“OOOOOOH!!! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME,”_ Mettaton said. _  
“I’LL ASK A QUESTION… YOU’LL BE SURE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO!”_

Alphys looked absolutely mortified and Harry knew well enough his scientist friend was terrible at acting, meaning this was definitely _not_ part of her plan. He snorted at that. Served her right.

_“Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?”_

“Undyne!” Harry, Sans and Papyrus all yelled, despite their better judgement.

“Uhm… What?!”

Damn… How did that robot get them all to go along with him even when they were against it so much? That sexy rectangle really was charismatic as hell.

.              .              .               .              .

Harry grinded his teeth as he walked through Hotland, anger boiling in his gut more powerful than he had felt in years. He took a deep, calming breath and walked towards the Lab. He had hoped to tell Undyne Alphys was just outed on TV for having a crush on her, but whatever. He had more important matters to take care of right now anyway. Like giving Alphys a kick under her ass for endangering Frisk.

“You have a LOT of explaining to do!” Harry called out loudly as he threw the door open.

Alphys squeaked and dropped her phone before turning around to face Harry. She was blushing in shame and shrank under the infamous glare of the youngest of the skelebros. It was as if his eyes had become Death itself.

“I-I didn’t mean f-for it t-to-” Alphys stuttered out nervously.

“You meant _exactly_ for that to happen!” Harry growled.  
“You’re supposed to _help_ them, Alphys! Not sabotage them and lie to them so they’ll like you!”

The yellow lizard woman whimpered and shrank a little into herself.

“W-will y-you tell the-them?” she asked softly.

Harry sighed and rubbed his nasal bone tiredly before shaking his head.

“No. Just make sure they don’t die, please,” he muttered.

“I-I’ll do anything I can to protect them!” Alphys agreed quickly.

“You damn well better,” Harry growled threateningly.

With that, he turned around and snapped his fingers to open a shortcut. He didn’t look back at Alphys as he stepped through and straight into Hotland. He was near Sans’s station, where he found Frisk letting his older brother stack more and more hotdogs on their head. It was quite the ridiculous sight, making Harry laugh quietly.

“That’s the limit, kid,” Sans said.  
“I mean, 29 is fine, but really, 30 is just too much.”

Frisk giggled and tried to walk away, balancing all the hotdogs. Harry chuckled and wondered when the human would notice they were all hot cats. Sans always had those silly little pranks. They were still better than his hotdogs, since the ‘meat’ was made of a watersausage.

Frisk had only taken a few steps or the whole tower on their head came tumbling down. Both Harry and Sans burst out laughing, which finally alerted Frisk of the younger skeleton’s presence. They lit up like a Christmas candle as they saw Harry and ran over, hugging him enthusiastically. Harry chuckled and hugged the human back.

“Glad to see you again too, kiddo!” he laughed.

“Why do you keep calling me a kid?” Frisk asked scowling.  
“You’re not _that_ much older than I am, right?”

Harry’s grin widened and he cocked his head, looking innocently.

“No? How old are you again?” he asked curiously.

“I’m twelve!” Frisk said proudly, grinning at him.

Harry’s face twitched and he had to hold himself back from hugging the human again. They were just so damn cute! He wanted to hold them forever and shield them from any danger, but he knew that this journey was one they had to make on their own.

“You’re right! Barely an age difference at all!” Harry agreed amused.  
“I mean, I’m only thirty-one… Nearly thirty-two, actually…”

Frisk’s eyes widened in shock at that, making Harry laugh again.

“Monsters age differently from humans, Frisk,” he said.  
“If we’re comparing, I have the physical age of a sixteen year-old human.”

“… Oh…” Frisk mumbled, blushing a little.

Again, Harry couldn’t help but feel himself melt. He loved Frisk’s embarrassed face.

“You’ve gotten far already, Frisk,” Harry said proudly.  
“I know you’ll reach the finish line soon and I’ve never been prouder of anyone.”

The bright flush on the young human’s cheeks grew darker and they leapt back into Harry’s arms. The embrace was less exciting and a lot softer and sweeter. Harry closed his eyes and hummed in pleasure as he held the small human child close. He pressed his teeth against the side of their head before letting go again. Frisk was smiling brightly at him.

“I believe in you, Frisk,” Harry said grinning.  
“I also believe you should probably get going again.”

The human laughed and waved at him before running back to Sans to say goodbye to him too and then they left. Chuckling at the childish excitement the young human portrayed, he walked over to his older brother’s station where Sans was grinning knowingly at him.

“Kid’s got a crush on ya,” Sans told him as he reached the other.

Harry blinked in shock and looked in the direction Frisk had left.

“On me? That’s ridiculous,” he said.  
“I’m literally just bones. Humans aren’t attracted to that.”

“This one is, apparently,” his brother teased chuckling.

Harry rolled his eyes and turned away. He snapped his fingers.

“See ya, big bro,” he said as he stepped into his shortcut.

 


	8. Timelines and Resets

Once he stepped out of his shortcut in front of MTT Resort, Harry pulled out his phone to look at the text he’d received from Bratty, asking him to get them some ‘cool stuff’. Which basically meant they were looking for useable garbage they could sell. With an amused chuckle, Harry pocketed his phone again and walked over to Catty and Bratty’s ‘shop’ in the alley.

“Harry!!!” Catty exclaimed happily as he approached.

“Hello, ladies,” Harry greeted, waving at them.  
“I heard you two were looking for good loot?”

“Yeah! Do you have anything?” Bratty asked.

Harry nodded and opened his arms, hugging Catty, who purred in happiness as he scratched her behind the ear a few times. The two of them were older than he was of course, he was only 31 years old while Bratty and Catty were both 57 years old. Then again, everyone did think he was 47, so the difference wasn’t as big when keeping monster’s slow aging in mind.

“I happen to have a few things,” Harry said, patting the backpack he had brought with him.

The two girls squealed happily as Harry took off the bag and opened it. He dug around a little and pulled out a cowboy hat, grinning proudly. As the girls gasped in awe, he put it on his head and put his hands on his hips, striking a pose.

“You like it?” he asked.

“Like, yeah!” Catty shouted.

“Obviously!” Bratty agreed.

“It, like, kind of goes with the gun I found in the garbage yesterday,” Catty said.

“You could sell it like a combo!” Harry exclaimed, throwing his hands up.  
“But maybe you should look at what else I have for you wonderful dames.”

He handed the bag to Bratty, who started digging around inside it immediately to search for anything useful. While the two girls were freaking out about all the (awesome stuff’, Harry decided to just look around. There was nothing to be seen in the alley, but he did hear something in the front. Maybe it was a tourist, or a customer for the two garbage-selling girls.

“Hey, I heard you’re going to the Core.”

Harry tensed at the sound of Sans’s voice. Scowling, he walked out the alleyway and peered past the corner. It really was Sans and Frisk. The kid made some good pacing.

“How about grabbing some dinner with me first?” Sans suggested.

Frisk grinned brightly and nodded excitedly, making Harry smirk. Maybe he should join them… without them knowing, of course. It might be fun to surprise them or something.

“Great. Thanks for treating me,” Sans said, winking.

Harry snorted silently and Frisk giggled.

“Over here. I know a shortcut.”

Harry turned back towards Catty and Bratty who had already gotten everything out of the bag and lined up with the rest of their wares. They looked up when Harry approached again and grinned at him.

“These are awesome!” Catty exclaimed.

“I do my best,” Harry chuckled, bowing for them.  
“I gotta go now, though. Don’t forget my cut when you sold them.”

“See you next week, Harry!” Bratty said, waving at him.

Harry chuckled and snapped his fingers with a smirk. He became invisible almost instantly, and with another snap, he opened a shortcut into the restaurant. Sans and Frisk had sat down at a table near the back, and Harry snuck over, standing at the wall nearest to them. He was curious what they would talk about.

“So here we are… again,” Sans started.

Instantly, Frisk’s smile melted, and if Harry’s grin wasn’t part of his skeletal structure, it would have fallen as well. Sans looked really angry for some reason that Harry didn’t understand.

“How many times have we sit here now, kid? Fifteen times? Sixteen?” Sans asked.  
“You saved yourself, you saved everyone else and you killed everyone. Why do you keep resetting?”

“… Y-you… remember…?” Frisk asked softly.

Sans gave a bitter laugh.

“We all do, though most don’t realize it,” he replied.  
“Harry’s been waking up with nightmares for the past week and a half and Papyrus avoids his bed as much as possible so he wouldn’t see ‘red eyes’ again. They try to hide it from everyone, but I know them better than anyone. I’m a lot more perceptive than people think.”

“… I know you are…” Frisk mumbled.  
“But it’s not like that! I-I can expl-”

“Don’t bother, kid,” Sans interrupted.  
“I don’t want to hear it because it won’t change anything.”

He stood up from the table and walked towards the wall where Harry was standing. Sans narrowed his eye sockets at Harry, but didn’t say anything else. Honestly, Harry wouldn’t be surprised if Sans knew he was there. Besides, if he understood Sans’s words correctly, this had to have happened over a dozen times already.

“You’ve saved us more times than I can remember, bringing us to the surface, but every time, you took it away again,” Sans continued, still staring at Harry.  
“You killed us all… once, I think… but stopped in the middle of fighting me and reset. The one time I was happy you did. After that, you kept saving us over and over and you kept stealing our happy ending from us.”

He chuckled and shook his head before turning around again to look at Frisk, who was at that point crying. Harry would normally feel pity when seeing someone so upset. He would demand they’d be heard, that everyone had a side to the story, but he was too horrified to care.

“I don’t care why you did it, kid,” Sans repeated.  
“All I need to know is that you have to be pretty sick in the head to enjoy playing with everyone’s lives like we’re toys.”

With that, he turned away and left. For a few moments, Frisk stayed on the seat, crying silently. Eventually, they took a deep breath and wiped their tears, ready to start moving on again. That was probably what angered him the most. Unable to think clearly anymore, Harry let the invisibility fall away and he stepped closer.

“Is what he said true?” he asked softly.

Frisk tensed and their head whipped over to face Harry. They were looking mortified, but for once, Harry didn’t care Frisk was afraid or upset.

“You saved us before?” Harry asked again.  
“Say something, Frisk! Did you steal our freedom from us?!”

The human sobbed and nodded their head. Harry sighed and nodded.

“I thought we were friends,” he mumbled.  
“I thought you cared. Guess I was wrong, huh?”

“I do!” Frisk exclaimed, jumping up, their eyes wide.  
“Please, Harry! You have to believe me! I didn’t-”

“I don’t have to do anything!” Harry flared up angrily.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself down again and turned his back to Frisk.

“I should have known better than to trust a human,” he muttered bitterly.

Before Frisk could try and say anything else, he opened a shortcut home and left.

.              .              .               .              .

The phone went off for the fourth time in the past hour, making Harry scowl annoyed and press the end call button instantly. He had no intentions of talking to Frisk. After everything, the kid was still trying to act like they were friends. Like hell. They’d just reset again soon and everything would start over.

Harry had read up on Sans’s research on timelines and alternate universes. Hell, he’d helped with the research in the past. His older brother had even stumbled on some proof of the existence of being able to ‘Save’, ‘Load’ and ‘Reset’ time several years back. No wonder he was so depressed all the time. Not only was monster kind stuck in the Underground, they were also stuck in a time-loop, at the mercy of a human child’s whims. All others were lucky not to remember. Harry couldn’t imagine the burden knowing this for so long must have put on Sans…

With a deep sigh, Harry turned on the TV. Maybe there was something on that could take his mind off of those horrible thoughts. He seemed to be lucky, as one of Mettaton’s shows was on. Or maybe not so lucky after all, since Frisk was there again too.

Harry sat up straight, his eye sockets wide as he saw the human was being forced to battle Mettaton once again. He scrambled for his phone instantly and dialed Alphys’s number. It rang twice before she picked up.

“What the hell, Alph!” Harry shouted in the device.

 _“I-it’s not me!”_ Alphys shouted in reply.  
_“M-Mettaton locked m-me out! H-he wants the human’s SOUL!”_

Harry groaned and ended the call. Just his luck.

“C’mon, kid. Don’t make me regret walking away,” he muttered.

He watched horrified as Frisk got a phone call on live and answered it. The conversation couldn’t be heard, so Harry had no idea what was going on. The door opened and Harry looked up to find Sans and Papyrus walking inside.

“Where’s Undyne?” Harry asked.

“SHE SAW LESSER DOG AND GREATER DOG SLACKING OFF, PLAYING FETCH WITH ONE OF THE LOCALS AND NOW SHE IS GIVING THEM PUNISHMENT TRAINING,” Papyrus replied.

This made Harry chuckle a little. Undyne really was a hard ass.

“Sup, Harry,” Sans greeted.  
“What’re you watching?”

He waved them over silently, too focused on what was happening on TV to speak to them. His two older brothers scowled at each other and walked over, sitting down on the couch on either side of him.

“WOWIE!! THE HUMAN IS BECOMING QUITE POPULAR!” Papyrus exclaimed happily.

Harry and Sans shared a dark look.

“Looks like it, yeah,” Sans agreed.

 _“Oh, look! A mirror!”_ Frisk suddenly called out, pointing behind Mettaton.

“What the hell is the kid planning?” Sans muttered.

“You don’t know?” Harry asked surprised.  
“I mean, if they did all this before, you should know, right?”

Sans rolled his eyes and levelled a deadpan stare at the youngest skeleton.

“I don’t actually remember much more than you, kid,” he confessed.  
“I have a machine that remembers _for_ me. It tells me how many monsters died in the last reset and how many resets there have been.”

“Oh.”

Harry glanced at Papyrus, but the tallest of the three hadn’t listened to their conversation at all. Instead, Papyrus was fully focused on the TV as Mettaton turned around to look for the mirror and Frisk flicked the switch on his back. The stage was suddenly covered in white smoke, hiding both Mettaton and the human from the viewers. Harry couldn’t help himself and he leaned forward, eye sockets wide in fearful anticipation.

_“OH YES!”_

Spotlights came on and Frisk was finally visible again, blinking furiously against the sudden bright lights. Through the smoke, Harry could see a familiar silhouette. He’d seen Alphys working on this particular model several times before, after all, even helped her draw it up. Mettaton’s new body.

 _“Oh, my. If you flipped my switch, that can only mean one thing. You’re desperate for the premiere of my new body,”_ Mettaton spoke.  
_“How rude… Lucky for you, I’ve been aching to show this off for a long time. So… as thanks, I’ll give you a handsome reward. I’ll make your last living moments… ABSOLUTELY beautiful!”_

“I’m suddenly really happy that skeletons can’t drool,” Harry confessed.

“You helped Alphys with the look. How come you’re so over it?” Sans asked.

“ _Because_ I helped her, duh! I drew him to be really hot and I did a damn good job!”

“YOU MOST CERTAINLY DID, BROTHER,” Papyrus agreed.

They watched anxiously as the fight continued. Frisk posed, boasted and scoffed along with Mettaton, riling up the crowd even more. They dodged most of Mettaton’s attacks expertly and shot rubber bullets whenever Mettaton’s SOUL was in view. Harry didn’t know anymore who to root for, but he did know he felt terribly guilty about not allowing Frisk to give an explanation.

Halfway through the fight, Mettaton had lost his arms, shot off by Frisk, and suddenly, with one last blow to his exposed SOUL, he also lost his fabulous legs. Harry gasped loudly, as did Papyrus next to him while Sans just watched Frisk intently. The young human looked sad but very determined. Somehow, it made Harry’s chest warm.

 _“OOH, LOOK AT THESE RATINGS!!! THIS IS THE MOST VIEWERS I’VE EVER HAD!!”_ Mettaton suddenly called out loudly.  
_“WE’VE REACHED THE VIEWER CALL-IN MILESTONE! ONE LUCKY VIEWER WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO TALKTO ME… BEFORE I LEAVE THE UNDERGROUND FOREVER!!! LET’S SEE WHO CALLS FIRST!”_

Almost instantly, the phone rang and was put on speaker by one of the camera men.

 _“HI, YOU’RE ON TV!”_ Mettaton greeted.  
_“WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ON THIS, OUR LAST SHOW???”_

_“Oh…… Hi… Mettaton….”_

Harry instantly recognized Napstablook’s voice. He looked at his brothers and noticed they too heard it. Papyrus almost had tears in his eye sockets as he continued watching while Napstablook told his cousin that he would dearly miss his shows and how the Underground would be off worse without him.

_“Oh…. I didn’t mean to talk so long…. Oh…..”_

_“NO, WAIT! WAIT, BL… H… THEY ALREADY HUNG UP…”_

This was probably the saddest thing Harry had ever seen. Napstablook was a very shy and depressed monster. His only happiness was Mettaton and Shyren. If Mettaton really left, what would happen to the poor lonely ghost?

_“I’LL TAKE ANOTHER CALLER!”_

Harry grabbed his own phone instantly and dialed the number shown on the screen. It went over a few times and then he was on, along with many others. He waited a few seconds in silence until most of the others had called out their love for Mettaton before speaking up.

“I don’t believe humans deserve your beauty, Mettaton,” he spoke up.  
“The only worthy one is the exact one standing in front of you. Please. Don’t leave the ones that need you the most. Don’t kill the one human that cares about monsters.”

He saw Frisk tense up and press their hands against their chest. They send a watery smile to the camera, tears in their bright eyes as they mouthed thank you.

 _“EVERYONE… THANK YOU,”_ Mettaton spoke up after a while before looking over to Frisk.  
_“DARLING. PERHAPS… IT MIGHT BE BETTER IF I STAY HERE FOR A WHILE. HUMANS ALREADY HAVE STARS AND IDOLS, BUT MONSTERS… THEY ONLY HAVE ME. IF I LEFT… THE UNDERGROUND WOULD LOSE IT’S SPARK. I’D LEAVE AN ACHING VOID THAT CAN NEVER BE FILLED.”_

He lost Harry halfway his speech. The teen skeleton stood up and dug his hands in his pockets before walking towards the door.

“I’ll be back soon,” he mumbled.

“INVITE FRISK FOR DINNER!” Papyrus called after him.

Harry chuckled weakly and nodded. Once he was outside, he opened a shortcut towards the Core and stepped through. He arrived just as Frisk walked out of the room they had battled Mettaton in, still wiping their tears off. When they noticed Harry, they tensed, their eyes widening in shock.

“Hi,” Harry greeted lamely.

“H-Harry…” Frisk mumbled quietly.

“I… I came to apologize about earlier…” Harry muttered, scratching his skull with a blush.  
“I was too upset to think straight and I didn’t let you explain yourself. Every story has multiple sides and every action has a reason. I want to hear yours.”

“R-really?” Frisk asked hopeful.

Harry chuckled and nodded, holding out his hand invitingly.

“Yeah. Let’s go to Grillby’s or MTT Resort so we can talk in private, deal? I’m sure Pap can forgive me bailing on Dinner once.”

“How about your house?” Frisk offered instead.  
“I want Sans and Papyrus to hear this too.”

Harry nodded and grabbed their hand.

“Alright. I know a shortcut,” he said, winking.

.              .              .               .              .

Harry pulled Frisk along towards the front door. As he reached out to it, the door swung open by itself and they came face-to-face with Sans. The two skeletons looked at each other for a few seconds before Sans’s gaze shifted to Frisk and he gave a snort.

“Heh. I was just about to meet ya at Judgement Hall,” he chuckled.

Frisk blushed and looked down at their feet. Their grip on Harry’s hand tightened and the teenage skeleboy realized they were nervous. He squeezed back and winked at Frisk as they looked back at him before he turned his attention back on Sans.

“Frisk wants to explain some things to us,” Harry said.  
“And we are going to be open-minded and listen.”

He gave a warning glare at his older brother, who chuckled again and shrugged.

“Whatever you say, kiddo,” the oldest, yet shortest of skeletons muttered.

Sans walked back inside and Harry and Frisk followed. The smell of freshly cooked spaghetti Papyrus’s and Undyne’s heads poked out from the kitchen at the sound of the door and he brightened up instantly at the sight of Frisk, waving happily at the human.

“YOU BROUGHT THE HUMAN FOR DINNER! WONDERFUL!!!” he said.

“Hey, Frisk! You joining us?! Great! We made too much anyway!” Undyne laughed.

“Yup. They were really excited when I told them you guys were cooking,” Harry agreed.

Frisk tensed and looked at Harry with a horrified expression. The youngest skelebros chuckled amused at the sight and patted their shoulder with a wink.

“At least the house is still standing, right?” he joked.

Frisk giggled and nodded. They all sat down at the table and waited a little. To Harry’s surprise, there were six plates ready.

“Who else is coming?” he asked confused.

“I INVITED ALPHYS!!” Papyrus said happily.  
“THIS WAY, UNDYNE CANNOT GET AWAY AND HAS TO CONFESS!!”

“What?! Papyrus!” Undyne yelled, blushing.

“We all know you love her!” Harry told her laughing.

Next to him, Frisk was nodding avidly, grinning like an idiot.

“Just do it, Undyne,” Sans agreed lazily.

“You know what? I will!!” Undyne growled.

“Kiss her when she walks in!” Frisk exclaimed.

“Uhm… maybe not-” Harry started, but he was interrupted as someone knocked on the door.

Undyne’s expression hardened in determination and she strode over to the door. Harry’s eye sockets widened and he looked at Sans in bewilderment, only to find his oldest brother with his head down on the table, shaking in silent laughter. Harry rolled his eyes and watched in horror as Undyne swung the door open and swiped Alphys up in a passionate kiss instantly.

“Oh god,” he groaned, his skull thumping against the table.

“THIS IS SO ADORABLE!!!” Papyrus squealed.

“O-oh dear… I-I…” Alphys muttered as Undyne put her back down.

She swayed a little and then fainted on the spot. Undyne stared wide eyed at the dinosaur monster, not really knowing what to do while Sans and Frisk both howled in laughter.

“Did-did I screw up?” Undyne asked uncertainly.

.              .              .               .              .

“Alright, kid,” Sans sighed as he sat back down at the table.  
“Undyne went back to the lab with Alphys to take care of her until she wakes up again. Time to start talking.”

“TALKING? ABOUT WHAT?” Papyrus asked clueless.

“The resets,” Harry replied.

Papyrus’s face hardened instantly and he nodded his head in understanding. He had never really been a big fan of the science part of the family, but he wasn’t left out either. He had full access to the workshop and research and he sat at the same table, eating, when Harry and Sans discussed it, or when Alphys came over, asking for Sans’s opinion on certain things. Sometimes, he even gave them a helpful insight.

“WHAT ABOUT THEM?” he asked coldly.

“Frisk did them nearly twenty times,” Sans muttered.  
“Saved us about fifteen, sixteen times and reset again.”

Papyrus nodded in understanding and sat down, focusing on Frisk, who was looking down at their lap shamefully, waiting for Papyrus to get angry or throw them out the house. Instead, the tallest skeleton put a gentle hand  on their head and rubbed their hair softly.

“WILL YOU TELL US WHY YOU DID IT?” he asked hopeful.

The human teen swallowed and nodded jerkily.

“I-I never reset to hurt you… or to play with you,” they mumbled.  
“The first time I went through the Underground, I had no idea what I was doing. I killed a Moldsmal in my panic. I-I c-couldn’t save you that time, so after a few months back on the surface, I decided I wanted to try again. I-it took me another two tries to finally break the Barrier, and I was so happy…”

“But?” Sans asked, looking searchingly at the human.

Frisk flushed bright red and looked away.

“… I got curious,” they mumbled.  
“I-I’m not alone. N-not that I’m blaming anyone else! B-but Chara, the first human to ever fall in the Underground, is with me, in… in my head. They suggested it first. ‘What if you went back and tried to kill everyone? We can just undo it all after anyway.’ S-so I did…”

“But you gave up on that path before finishing it,” Harry pressed.

“Yes. When I was fighting Sans, I realized how much I was hurting everyone, so I let him kill me and reset again,” Frisk agreed.  
“I decided to go back and save everyone again, and that would be the last time I’d ever use this power.”

“But you didn’t stop,” Sans growled accusingly.

Tears were steadily falling from the human’s eyes. Harry couldn’t help himself. He scooted closer and wrapped an arm over their shoulders in an attempt to comfort. Frisk leaned against him instantly and laid their head on Harry’s shoulder, sniffing softly.

“There’s one person I can’t save,” they mumbled.  
“I-I can’t leave Asriel behind. I promised Chara I wouldn’t!”

This had Sans sit up straight, his eye sockets wide in surprise and disbelieve.

“Asriel? As in Asriel Dreemurr? The dead prince who passed through the Barrier and was killed by humans?” he asked.

Frisk nodded.

“He came back to life as a soulless flower because of one of Alphys’s experiments with Determination,” they said.  
“I have to fight him to save everyone, and I get him to feel compassion so he breaks the barrier, but once he returns all the SOULS back to everyone, he loses himself again and goes back to being Flowey.”

That name stirred something inside of Harry. Some memories of a past life. Sans had gone completely still, his eye sockets empty depths and his hands trembling. Still, it was Papyrus’s reaction that caught his attention the most. He looked horrified and terrified. His eyes were wide, glowing bright orange and he was shaking all over.

“F-FLOWEY…?” he asked softly.

Frisk nodded and looked apologetically.

“I know he talks to you, but you can’t trust him!” they said.  
“He wants to destroy the Underground and steal the human SOULS.”

“He wants to play with everyone’s lives,” Sans hissed hatefully.  
“He kills because he’s bored. He wants new things, something he hasn’t seen before.”

This had Frisk scowl confused.

“You know him?” they asked.

“It’s my job to look over the timeline, kid,” Sans replied.  
“I fought that weed more often than I can count. Hell, I helped Alph make the damn thing.”

“YOU DID? WHY DID YOU NEVER TELL ME?” Papyrus asked shocked.

“Technically, I just handed Alphys the Determination she used on the flower,” Sans shrugged.  
“I told you about that, right? The leaching SOUL shard attached to Harry’s? It was pure Determination and Spite. Alphys and I detached it from Harry’s SOUL and she used it to inject the flower.”

“F-Flowey was created… through me?” Harry asked shocked.

“The shard belonged to a guy named Tom Riddle,” Sans said.  
“The piece was heavily corrupted, but we figured it would work for Alphys’s experiment.”

Everyone nodded in understanding at that and Sans sighed, putting a hand on Frisk’s shoulder.

“I misjudged you, kid,” he said.  
“But please, no more resets.”

“This will be the last,” Frisk agreed.  
“Even… even if I can’t save Asriel, I won’t reset again.”

Sans’s smile softened by those words and he pulled Frisk out of Harry’s arms so he could properly hug the human himself.

“Thanks, kid. That means a lot to me.”

 


	9. End of the Road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a drawing of Harry!!!! First time ever that I made a digital drawing and I’m pretty proud of it. If you wanna check it out, it’s on my Tumblr  
> http://crazyjanacat.tumblr.com/image/156545517769
> 
> And on my DeviantArt  
> http://crazyjanacat.deviantart.com/art/Harrington-Gaster-660370643

 

“THEN I WILL SEE YOU AT THE CASTLE LATER!” Papyrus said, waving at the three.

Frisk grinned brightly and ran back up to the tallest skeleton, hugging him tight for a few moments before walking back to Harry and Sans, who would join them to Asgore’s castle. Both skelebros grabbed one of their hands and they opened a shortcut together.

In a bright flash, they appeared in the middle of the Judgement Hall. Harry blinked a few times to get his vision back and looked down to Frisk, who was looking forward stubbornly, their face contorted in fear and nerves. He squeezed their hand gently in a comforting manner, making them look over to him.

“We’ll always be right here for you, Frisk,” he said softly.

“Yup. We’re rooting for ya, buddy,” Sans agreed with a wink.

Frisk gave them both a watery smile and pulled them into a hug.

“Thank you… for everything,” they mumbled.

“It’s not over yet, kiddo,” Sans reminded them chuckling.

Harry chuckled and pressed his teeth against the human’s cheek softly.

“This will be the beginning of something better,” he muttered.

Frisk nodded and let go of them both. There was a little blush on their cheeks as they peeked over at Harry, but they quickly turned away and started walking through the long hall to meet with Asgore on the other side. Harry sighed and dug his hands in his hoodie pocket. He hoped everything would be alright. Sure, Frisk had done this so many times, but there was still so much that could go wrong, especially now that they had moved away from the usual timeline.

“Frisk so likes you~” Sans teased.

A bright green blush appeared in Harry’s face and he glared at his smirking brother.

“Says the guy who’s got a crush on a voice behind a door,” he grumbled.

That shut Sans up instantly and he turned bright blue. Harry laughed loudly as the older skeleton pulled the hood of his jacket over his head. He wanted to keep teasing Sans, but he was stopped when a phone started ringing. Sans quickly dug his hand in his pocket and pulled his cell out, answering the call.

“Sup, Pap?” he asked.

Harry stepped closer immediately, trying to hear what their brother said.

 _“YOU WERE RIGHT! FLOWEY DID SHOW UP AND SPEAK TO ME!!”_ Papyrus said frantically.

“What did you do?” Sans asked.

 _“WHAT WE AGREED TO. I TREATED HIM AS A FRIEND!!”_ came the reply.  
_“HE TOLD ME TO CALL ALL OUR FRIENDS AND URGE THEM TO JOIN FRISK.”_

Sans and Harry were silent for a few moments before the oldest came to a decision.

“Do it,” Sans said.

“Are you sure?” Harry asked softly.

“Frisk can handle whatever the weed throws at them,” Sans replied.  
“We need to let this happen. We need to believe in the kid. Trust me.”

Harry swallowed and nodded his head. He trusted Sans, just like he trusted Frisk. He straightened his back, his hands curling into fists inside his pockets as his face hardened in Determination.

“Alright. Let’s do this, one last time,” he said.

.              .              .              .              .

Harry and Sans were hiding behind a pillar when the first monster came rushing past. Harry’s eyes widened in surprise when he recognized Toriel and he gave a soft gasp. Sans looked at him for a short moment, but didn’t question his youngest brother’s reaction as another set of footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. It was Undyne, who was followed shortly after by Alphys.

Sans and Harry stepped out of their hiding place when Papyrus approached, the oldest waving lazily. Papyrus scowled and stopped in front of them.

“WHY ARE YOU NOT WITH FRISK YET?” he asked.

“We’re supposed to arrive last,” Harry replied shrugging.

Papyrus gave a loud sigh and walked onwards towards the Barrier, Sans and Harry following him. As they arrived, the others were all already there, talking to each other.

“HEY! NOBODY FIGHT ANYONE!” Papyrus yelled.  
“IF ANYONE FIGHTS ANYONE…! THEN I’LL!!! BE FORCED!!! TO ASK UNDYNE FOR HELP!!!”

“And no one would want that,” Harry joked chuckling, causing Undyne to glare at him.

“Hello!” Toriel greeted them cheerfully.

“OH! HELLO, YOUR MAJESTY!” Papyrus greeted back.

He scowled for a moment before leaning closer to Frisk.

“PSST! HEY, HUMAN…” he whispered loudly.  
“DID ASGORE SHAVE…? AND… CLONE HIMSELF????”

This had Frisk burst out in laughter, making Papyrus only scowl more confused.

“Hey guys… what’s up?” Sans greeted.

Unlike Papyrus and Harry, Sans had calmly strolled all the way to the Barrier, which was why he was so late. Harry chuckled a little while the middle skelebros glared at the oldest.

“That voice…!” Toriel spoke, blushing a little.

Her gaze zoomed in on Sans and she walked over quickly, smiling brightly at him.

“Hello, I think we may… Know each other?” she greeted.

“Oh hey… I recognize your voice too,” Sans replied.

“I am Toriel. So nice to meet you.”

“The name is Sans,” Sans greeted back with a wink.  
“And, uh, same.”

“Oh! Wait, then…!” Toriel started slowly, looking over to Harry.  
“You’re Harry! My poor little Harry Potter! You’ve grown quite a bit!”

“Good to see you again too, miss Toriel,” Harry mumbled blushing.  
“I’m really sorry for leaving all of a sudden by the way. I… got really freaked out…”

“I understand, dear child,” the caretaker of the Ruins told him smiling.  
“I am just very happy you found yourself a good home and a nice family.”

“I have. Thanks.”

Toriel stepped closer and hugged Harry tightly before she looked over to Papyrus.

“And you must be Papyrus!” she said cheerfully.

“WOWIE! ASGORE’S CLONE KNOWS MY NAME??? THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!” Papyrus exclaimed, blushing a bit too.

“Hey, Papyrus. What does a skeleton tile his roof with?” Toriel asked.

Sans and Harry looked at each other with wide grins on their faces, already knowing where this would go, but Papyrus looked completely clueless.

“UH… SNOW-PROOF ROOFTILES?” he replied.

“No, silly!” Toriel laughed.  
“A skeleton tiles his roof with… **shin** -gles!”

“I CHANGED MY MIND! THIS IS THE WORST DAY EVER!!!”

Harry and Frisk both howled in laughter while Sans just stared awestruck at Toriel. They all moved to stand opposite from Frisk, all looking at the brightly smiling human child.

“My child, it seems as if you must stay here for a while,” Toriel said gently.  
“But looking at all the great friends you have made… I think you will be happy here.”

“H-hey, that reminds me,” Alphys spoke up, looking at Papyrus.

Harry shared a look with Frisk, and saw on their expression that this was indeed the moment Flowey would show up. Harry’s jaw hardened and his hands curled in tight fists. He was ready for what would come next.

“Papyrus… _you_ called everyone here, right?” Alphys asked.  
“Well, besides, uh, her. Uh, anyway… If I got here before you… How did you know how to call everybody?”

Papyrus tensed for a moment, beads of sweat on his skull and his bones trembling, but he swallowed it all down and plastered a cheerful expression back on his face. A lot of people underestimated him for how naïve and trusting he was, but Harry knew he was much more observant and intelligent than people gave him credit for.

“LET’S JUST SAY… A TINY FLOWER HELPED ME.”

.              .              .              .              .

Harry blinked a few times, scowling confused. The last thing he remembered was Flowey showing up and grabbing them all in his thorny vines, but this was a whole different scene. Instead of standing near the Barrier, he was standing on a patch of grass surrounded by darkness with in the middle, sunlight pooling from the ceiling. In that circle of light stood two beings, Frisk and a young boss monster Harry was sure had to be Asriel himself. The kid that caused it all.

“Whoa! What in the world is this!” he exclaimed.

The two kids turned their heads and stared at him with wide eyes of bewilderment and confusion. Harry awkwardly stuffed his hands in his hoodie pocket and walked over to them. He was just as surprised as they were, if not more.

“Harry? How did you get in here?” Frisk asked shocked.

Harry looked around himself and shrugged. He guessed it was some mystical thing that had called out to him or something like that. But he did know _why_ he was there.

“I was inside this guy, right?” he asked, pointing at Asriel.  
“I guess it was just a cry for help from either of you that called me here.”

Frisk and Asriel looked at each other, both looking surprised at the young skeleton’s statement.

“C-can you help?” Frisk asked softly.

“I might,” Harry replied, shrugging again.  
“At least, if Asriel still loves his parents.”

“O-of course I love my parents!” the young goat boy said bewildered.

Harry’s skeletal grin seemed to widen and his eyes sparked with green magic. He pressed a hand against his own chest end pulled his SOUL out. To Frisk’s surprise, it was bright green with a soft pink glow lighting up the surroundings.

“So that’s what I felt…” Asriel murmured.  
“You’re a Halfling, aren’t you? I didn’t know they still existed.”

“And yet here I am,” Harry laughed.  
“But it’s not _my_ SOUL that’s going to help you.”

Frisk and Asriel watched as the skeleton gently cupped his SOUL, a soft, almost sad look in his brightly glowing eyes.

“I’m sorry, mom,” he whispered quietly.  
“Thank you for all those years, but someone else needs you more. It’s time to let go.”

To the other two’s surprise, a second SOUL released itself from Harry’s. A pale glowing pink monster SOUL floated to the middle of the dark space they were in, pulsing and filling them all with a pleasant warmth.

“What is this?” a new voice asked hoarsely.

Frisk’s eyes widened and she looked behind her, finding Chara standing there, looking at their own hands in shock. Red eyes looked up at Frisk, then at Asriel before falling on Harry.

“H-how…” they asked slowly.

“Looks like you love them very much too,” Harry replied softly.

The pink SOUL pulsed again, this time covering them all in a bright, blinding light. The four teens closed their eyes to shield themselves from the bright glow, and the next time Harry opened his eyes again, he was back in the castle, sitting propped up against Papyrus’s hip while Sans tried to shake him awake.

“Harry, you okay, kid?” Sans asked worried.

Harry chuckled and rubbed his skull.

“Peachy,” he replied.  
“A bit **rattled** , but other than that, I’m fine.”

“WHAT HAPPENED, BROTHER?” Papyrus.

Before Harry could answer, a soft groan had him look over to where the others were all crowded together. His eye sockets widened in shock at what he saw there.

“What the hell?” he asked, scrambling to his feet.

Frisk was lying on the ground, with Asriel curled into their side. On their other side lay another figure, but it wasn’t Chara like he expected. Instead, it was another very furry kid boss monster. The only difference he could see was that this one had light brown spots in their fur and their green shirt had only one yellow stripe over their chest instead of two like with Asriel.

Asriel groaned again and sat up, blinking his jade green eyes open, which widened at seeing the other young goat monster. Frisk was slowly waking up too, just as the second goat.

“Ch-Chara?!” Asriel gasped.

The spotted monster’s bright red eyes flew open instantly and they looked over to Asriel, looking just as shocked as the young prince. For a moment, they looked at their own paws, seemingly unable to comprehend what had happened before they jumped up and grabbed Asriel in a hug.

“Asriel… Chara…” Asgore mumbled, tears in his eyes.

Toriel sobbed in happiness and fell to her knees, pulling the three kids in her arms. Asgore followed shortly after. Frisk looked to be a bit bewildered at first, but soon enough, they started to smile happily and hugged back. There were a lot of tears involved, making the bystanders smile fondly.

“I-I don’t understand,” Toriel cried softly.

“H-Harry b-brought us back, mom,” Chara replied, sobbing too.

Instantly, everyone’s eyes were on Harry, who blushed light green and looked down. Sans and Papyrus both put their hands on Harry’s shoulders, squeezing softly in approval and pride.

“Thank you, Harry,” Toriel said sincerely.

“It’s the least I could do,” Harry said sheepishly.  
“You all deserved to be happy. Though I honestly have no idea what happened with Chara…”

“Perhaps I could shed light on that,” a new, deep voice said calmly.

All heads snapped over to the tall skeleton standing at the entrance to the barrier. Next to Harry, Sans’s eye sockets widened in shock and Papyrus gasped loudly.

“D-dad?” Sans asked quietly.

“Hello Sans, Papyrus,” the man greeted softly, before focusing back on Harry.  
“I believe it was unintentional that you brought me back as well. That is for the same reason as why Chara is now a monster.”

“How did that happen?” Harry asked curiously.

“Lily Potter’s Love didn’t actually ‘bring us back’,” Gaster started his explanation.  
“Instead, she gave those who lost a loved one the power to wish them back to life. You’ll find that much more monsters have returned than just us.”

“B-but… Dr. G-Gaster… t-that doesn’t explain why Ch-Chara i-is a m-monster now…” Alphys stuttered out.

“The King and Queen considered Chara their own child, so Lily’s magic acted on this and recreated their body with your genetics, your majesties. Chara is now your child by blood.”

Chara gave a watery laugh and hugged Asriel again, their smile wider and brighter than ever before.

“This is the happiest day of my life,” they sobbed.

“Harry,” Gaster spoke up, making Harry’s head snap up to him again.  
“We may have just met, but I could see everything in every timeline from the Void. I know how deeply my sons care about you. They truly see you as their younger brother and I hope that one day, you could consider me your father.”

Tears slowly beaded in Harry’s eyes at those words. He’d never had a father before, yet here was a man offering to take that position and love him like real family. He nodded his head and gave a quiet laugh.

“I’d love that,” he admitted.

“How _adorable_ ,” Flowey’s high pitched voice hissed venomously.  
“Let’s all be happy and forget about the _damn flower_! I’ll kill you all!”

Instantly, Undyne had her spear at the ready and Sans’s left eye was glowing bright blue. Before anyone could do anything, however, Frisk jumped forward and shielded the flower, much to everyone’s shock and horror. Sans calmed down almost instantaneously and chuckled.

“You weren’t joking when you said you’d save everyone, did ya, kid?” he asked.

“I think Flowey’s just grumpy anyway,” Harry shrugged lazily.  
“I bet that a lot of sunlight will be exactly what he needs to feel better.”

This had Chara, Frisk and Asriel laugh amused while Flowey hissed curses at everyone. Sans grinned widely and snapped his fingers. A flowerpot appeared in his hand and he stepped forward, handing it over to Frisk, who accepted it with a bright smile of their own.

“If you think I’m going to go in that thing willingly, you have another thing coming, you _idiot_!”

“Who said you needed to come willingly?” Sans asked darkly.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp! That’s all folks! Thank you for reading this story. It was a lot of fun to write. Please like and comment and I’ll see you in the next one!
> 
> Just kidding. We’re not even halfway. I do hope you guys are enjoying this story so far though.
> 
> Anyway, quick question about whether you guys want to see Toriel/Asgore or Toriel/Sans. Both work for me, but it would definitely change how this story continues.
> 
> Some of those changes is that with Asgore, they’ll all be one happy family, with Frisk, Flowey, Asriel and Chara being siblings like any others and the skelebros will be close family friends. They’ll all hang out a lot with Harry and he’ll be coming over daily to help them with homework.
> 
> With Sans, Toriel, Frisk and Flowey will live with the skelebros and Gaster while Asriel and Chara live a week with them and a week with Asgore. Since Harry is still a teen according to Monsters, he will mostly see Asriel and Chara at school and there will be PTA Sans.


	10. New Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Counts on Toriel’s relationship:
> 
> With Sans: 3
> 
> With Asgore: 9
> 
> I’m going to close the vote already here. I know it’s only been a week, but next chapter will have a little of the winning pairing already in it, so if you haven’t voted yet and you still want to, either be really quick and do it on the same day this was posted, or just leave it, because it won’t matter anymore by tomorrow.

Harry had drawn his legs up to his chest and his chin rested on his knees as he stared intently at the young man sitting across from him. They looked nervous and uncomfortable, but that was just fine to Harry. He was feeling the same anyway.

He wanted to say he had never wanted to leave the Underground, admit that he didn’t trust humans, but he didn’t think that would help their case. These wizards were pretty powerful. Sure, they weren’t unstoppable and Harry was technically speaking still a lot stronger, but that didn’t calm him down. There were a lot more of those wizards than there were monsters, so here he was, in a grey interrogation room, feeling like a prisoner or a criminal.

The moment they stepped out of the mountain, they had been intercepted by a group pf magical humans calling themselves Aurors and they had led them to the Magical Congress of the United States of America after Asgore had informed his people they would have to stay Underground a bit longer. The monsters hadn’t been very happy with this, but accepted it for the promise of peace and freedom.

The door opened and both Harry and the young wizard looked over relieved. The woman stepping in looked very stern, making Harry swallow nervously. He hoped this would go smoothly so he could go back to his family and his new dad.

She was wearing a grey pencil skirt suit and her brown hair was done up in a tight bun on the back of her head. Half-moon spectacles sat on her somewhat crooked nose and she pursed her thin, red-painted lips at the sight of Harry. She sat down next to the young man, her piercing brown eyes finally shifting from Harry to something else.

“Let us start, then,” the woman spoke, grabbing the files that had been floating next to her.  
“Harrington J. Gaster, Skeleton monster, male,… how old are you?”

She opened the files on the first page, showing a picture of Harry which had been taken when he had just brought in with the others. It moved, flinching as the flash of the camera. Harry watched silently as she picked up a large feather… no, a _quill_. It started moving by itself, scribbling down what the woman had already said before stopping again. The woman looked up, scowling expectantly at Harry, making the teen jump into action.

“I’ll be turning thirty-two in a month and a half,” he hurried to say.  
“And please, don’t do the Harrington thing. Just Harry is fine.”

“Mr. Gaster,” the woman said coolly.  
“Explain to us what you are doing here.”

“Being interrogated for existing,” Harry replied bitterly.

The woman’s eyes narrowed at him while the young man next to her shuffled in his seat nervously. The quill just continued writing down everything that was being said.

“Why have monsters come out of the mountain?” she asked testily.

“Why, or why now?” Harry shot back.  
“Because it was a prison, created by humans because they feared monsters for being _different_. Because it took us this long to break the damn Barrier.”

“Was it that bad to live in there?” the young man blurted out.

“No sunlight, tight quarters, threatening overpopulation. You tell me.”

The man blushed and ducked his head down while Harry glared at him. After a few moments, he sighed and let his legs down, resting his feet back on the floor.

“In my opinion, it was still a lot better than on the surface,” he confessed.  
“My life was miserable until I fell down into the Underground and met my family.”

This had both magical humans stare at him in shock. Harry chuckled bitterly and leaned forward, tapping the files lying open in front of the woman.

“This thing hasn’t gotten everything right,” he said.  
“I’m a Halfling. Half monster and half human. I lived with my human aunt and uncle until I was eight and they abandoned me near the mountain.”

“When did this happen?” the woman asked, eyes wide.

Harry scowled and scratched his skull in thought. The quill was eagerly writing down everything he had revealed, making him chuckle softly.

“Twenty-three and a half years ago,” he answered.  
“My relatives had seen how the fingers on my hand sometimes lost their skin, so they abandoned me there while we were on a holiday.”

“So… D-do you perhaps… remember your name?” the woman asked shakily.

Harry frowned in confusion and nodded his head.

“Yeah. It was Harry Potter,” he replied.

There was a loud gasp and the young man fell out of his chair. Slowly, the woman stood up, her hands trembling as she gripped her files tightly and pressed them against her chest. The pen was floating uncertainly in the air and Harry had somehow the feeling it was staring at him too. He was actually a bit relieved when the woman plucked it out of the air and put it back in her briefcase. She righted her glasses and looked down at the young man who pulled himself back up on the table.

“I will inform our superiors of this. Stay with him, Andrews,” she said before hurrying out of the room.

Harry watched confused as the door fell closed behind her. He turned to look at the young man, Andrews, and found him staring wide-eyed at him in wonder and awe.

“Harry Potter… I’m a big fan of you,” Andrews whispered.

“… What the hell are you talking about?” Harry asked bewildered.

.              .              .              .              .

When the woman came back, she was joined by two other people. These were older men, both in impeccable suites. As soon as they walked in, they stopped and stared, their eyes trained on the lightning scar on Harry’s skull, making the skeleton feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Mr. Potter, I am John Calder, Head of the Department of Regulation of Magical Creatures and this is William Boot, Head of the Auror Department,” a man with quite the beer belly spoke, motioning to the bald man next to him.  
“Are you aware that the entire wizarding community of both Europe and the US have been looking for you ever since your disappearance?”

“It’s Gaster now, and how should I have known? I didn’t even know magic was real until Sans told me about it,” Harry replied confused.

“Didn’t know?!” Mr. Boot asked bewildered.  
“Mr. Potter! You’re the most famous wizard in the world, next to Merlin himself!”

“Gaster, please. Like I told the lady, my relatives weren’t big fans of mine,” Harry said.  
“Why would I be famous anyway? I was just an orphan living with my aunt and uncle.”

“You saved the wizarding world as a babe, Mr. Potter,” Mr. Calder spoke, a greedy glint in his beady eyes.

“Gaster. How could I have saved anyone as a baby?”

“No one knows. Mr. Dumbledore claimed it was a mother’s love that did it,” Mr. Boot replied.  
“But he is no longer a trusted source. After all, he was the one to leave you with hateful muggles, Mr. Potter. Barely anyone else was aware where you were left and by the time word was out, you were already gone for months! He served five years in Azkaban for that and lost all his titles. Your relatives could unfortunately not be persecuted, as they are muggles and you never had a muggle birth certificate. The British Ministry of Magic had no jurisdiction over them and you never existed to the muggle authorities.”

Harry sighed and rubbed his nasal bone.

“I’ve been Harry Gaster for the past twenty three years. _Please, please!_ Call me by my right name,” he said aggravated.  
“I don’t care about my relatives or about this Dumb-door, or whoever else had anything to do with my old life. I’m happy with the family I have now.”

“B-but you’re a Potter!” Mr. Calder exclaimed.  
“You’re the one to save the world! It’s in your blood!”

Harry chuckled and dug his hands in his hoodie pocket.

“Well. I’m a skeleton. I don’t have any blood,” he said smugly.  
“My family goes way beyond blood anyway. All the way down to the **bones** , heh.”

The two ministry officials scowled as they looked at him, before Boot sighed and shook his head.

“You’re right, forgive us, Mr. Gaster,” he said softly.  
“Let’s find your family and we’ll talk with everyone together, alright.”

Harry nodded his head.

“Yeah. Sounds good to me,” he mumbled.

.              .              .              .              .              .

As soon as Harry was led into the room where the others were all waiting for him, Papyrus practically jumped him and caged him in a tight bear hug, lifting him easily from the ground.

“HARRY!! I WAS GETTING WORRIED ABOUT YOU!!!” he exclaimed.

“Why? Weren’t you all being interrogated?” Harry asked chuckling.

“They stopped when some kid came running through the hall that they found Harry Potter,” Sans replied.

Papyrus finally let go of him, and instantly, two smaller bodies barreled into him. Harry laughed loudly and looked down, finding Frisk and Asriel holding his hoodie tightly in their fists as they hugged him with everything they had. With another chuckle, Harry wrapped his arms around them too.

“Nothing happened. Apparently I’m some kind of celebrity or something,” he replied amused.  
“They said something about me saving the world when I was a baby? I don’t really understand.”

“Harry the superhero,” Frisk giggled.  
“I can see it! You saved Asriel, Chara and Dr. Gaster after all.”

“Excuse me, but could you perhaps explain why my son is so important to you?” Gaster asked the two officials that had accompanied Harry.

“That’s why we’re here now, Mr. Gaster,” Mr. Boot said.

“Dr. Gaster,” Gaster corrected him automatically.  
“I have a PhD in Mechanics, Quantum Physics, Biology, Chemistry, SOUL Magic and Magical Theory.”

The two men blinked in surprise at that, making Sans chuckle.

“The perks of living for centuries, am I right?” he said winking.

“Dr. Gaster, my apologies,” Mr. Boot said eventually, smiling weakly.  
“Your… son… supposedly vanquished a Dark Lord when he was a year old.”

“WOWIE!! HUMANS ARE CAPABLE OF BATTLE AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE???” Papyrus asked awed.

“I knew they were tougher than they looked!” Undyne exclaimed grinning.

“No one ever said anything about fighting,” Mr. Calder gritted out, glaring at the two excited monsters.

Undyne pouted and Alphys put a clawed hand on her arm, smiling softly at her. The Captain of the Royal Guard relaxed and grinned back, pulling the short dinosaur monster in her arms and lifting her from the ground easily.

“No one really knows what it was exactly that Mr. Po- Mr. Gaster did,” Mr. Boot spoke calmly.  
“A dark wizard calling himself Lord Voldemort had started a war in Wizarding Britain in 1970, one which continued for eleven years. His goal was the annihilation of all no-maj, non-magical humans. Then, at the height of his powers, when he was so close to winning the war, he traveled to where the Potters were hiding away and killed James and Lily. The next morning, Voldemort had disappeared forever. The only proof he was ever there were the bodies of the Potters and the scar on your forehead, which was caused by a rebounded Killing Curse.”

“You’re the only one to have ever survived the Killing Curse, Mr. Potter,” Mr. Calder said, a hungry expression on his pudgy face.

“Gaster,” Harry replied blankly.

“Alright, so the kid’s a celebrity,” Sans spoke up, laying a hand on Harry’s shoulder protectively.  
“This Moldy Shorts or whatever is gone, everyone’s happy. Congratulations. Can we go now?”

“Vol de Mort,” Gaster murmured softly.  
“That’s French for ‘Flight of Death’, is it not?”

This had Sans snort amused.

“Seriously? The guy literally called himself scared of Death?” he asked amused.

“’Ensured his immortality’,” Alphys whispered.

All four skeletons tensed at that, their eyes growing wide in shock.

“Do you know the real name of this man?” Gaster asked, turning back towards Mr. Boot.

“Yes. He was born under the name of Tom Marvolo Riddle,” the man replied confused.  
“But he didn’t die. He was gone for ten years, but returned more powerful than ever.”

Sans put both hands on top of his skull and cursed loudly.

“And what is he up to now?” Harry asked worriedly.

“He continued his mission,” Mr. Calder said sorrowfully.  
“Some twenty years ago, he outed the Wizarding World to the muggles. Most of Britain is already under his control and he continued his reign of terror in all of Europe. The Wizarding World has been at war ever since.”

Frisk looked away sadly. They had lived in this world and knew of the hardships of course. Chara was instantly by their side and wrapped a protective arm around their shoulders while Asriel hugged the both of them tightly.

“I fail to see what this has to do with us,” Toriel said softly.

Boot and Calder looked at each other for a moment before the pudgy man started to scowl annoyed and pointed a fat finger at Harry.

“It has everything to do with him!” he growled out.  
“He’s been hailed as the Savior of us all! His disappearance gave the Dark Lord the chance to gain power again!”

Harry scowled and took a step back, his eyes lighting up bright green in anger and annoyance.

“Don’t try to put any of this on me,” he hissed darkly.  
“I have _nothing_ to do with your kind and your war! All I want is a peaceful and happy life with my family.”

Calder’s beady eyes widened in shock and he stumbled back, looking horrified.

“B-but you’re the one everyone has been waiting for!” he exclaimed bewildered.

“WAITING?!” Undyne roared aggressively, making both officials jump in fright.  
“What are you?! A group of weenies?! You have to ACT! Take your destiny in your own hands! Fight for yourselves you losers!”

“Y-yeah!” Alphys agreed.  
“Y-you h-have to t-take responsibility!”

Boot chuckled and put a hand on Calder’s arm to stop him from reacting.

“You’re right,” he said.  
“We’re sorry for the trouble. I’ll personally make sure your integration into human society is approved.”

“Thank you, Mr. Boot,” Asgore spoke with a kind smile.  
“We’re very grateful for your assistance.”

.              .              .              .              .

The group was back in the Underground, staring down at the large crowd that had flocked together near the palace to hear the verdict of the humans. Asgore took a deep breath and looked over to Frisk, Chara and Asriel with a soft smile.

“Children, would you like to make the announcement?” he asked them.

Asriel grinned happily and nodded his head. He grabbed both Frisk and Chara’s hands and pulled them both forward. He was the shortest of the three, with Chara having been fourteen years old when they died and Frisk being twelve. He himself had the physical appearance of an eleven year-old child and had been twenty-three on that faithful day he was murdered by humans.

“Dear citizens of the Underground!” he announced proudly, clearing his throat a little.

Harry saw Mettaton in the front row, holding a microphone while Burgerpants stood behind him, balancing a heavy camera. Poor guy really did suffer a lot under Mettaton, Harry thought amused.

“I, prince Asriel, Son of King Asgore and Queen Toriel, and prince Chara and the human Frisk, have great news!” Asriel spoke royally.

“We’ll all be moving to the surface!” Chara yelled out loudly.

This was met by loud cheers and applause. Many monsters danced around, kissing each other and throwing their heads in the air. Harry grinned widely and clapped his hands along with everyone else while Asriel gave Chara an affronted look.

“Hey! I was going to tell them!” the young prince whined.

“You took too long,” Chara replied shrugging, giving their brother a teasing grin.

Next to them, Frisk covered their mouth with a hand to stifle their amused laughter. Still, Asriel noticed and pouted, stomping his foot childishly.

“This isn’t funny, Frisk!” he complained.  
“Chara took my moment!”

“Don’t be such a crybaby!” Flowey hissed annoyed from his pot.

He hadn’t spoken since Toriel had picked him up, but he didn’t look to angry anymore either. It was as if being with Toriel somehow calmed the bitter, hateful flower. Harry wondered if his mother had given him a SOUL again too. Maybe Flowey had been so accepting of everything because he could feel? He’d have to look into that later.

“I’m not crying…” Asriel muttered, pouting at the flower.

Chara laughed and pulled their little brother in a hug.

“I’m sorry I stole your moment, little bro,” they said.

“It’s okay. I’m just glad we’re all back,” Asriel murmured in reply, hugging Chara back.

Harry smiled softly at the sight. He was really happy to see that everything was turning out just right. He just hoped this Voldemort guy wouldn’t pose a problem in the future. Things would be hard enough without them being sucked into a war on another continent.

 


	11. School Isn't Always a Nice Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To Kersew: The other fallen children aren’t alive again. As Gaster explained, Lily gave the monsters the power to wish their loved ones back to life, she didn’t bring them back herself. Toriel of course loved all six kids too, but this is something that had to go two ways. The kids had to love Toriel just as much. And while they did love her, they didn’t love her enough to come back for her. I hope that made sense?

After two and a half months of building up a small monster society at the foot of Mt. Ebott, a new life finally started for the monsters. Not everyone had fully moved yet, but most of them had their new homes on the surface and they were all happy.

But today was the first day of school and Harry didn’t like to admit it, but he was pretty nervous. Before that day, he had always been homeschooled after all, so he had little to no knowledge on how this would go. He hoped his classmates would be okay with having him around…

“Harry!” Asriel called out as he approached the school.

Harry chuckled and waved as he saw Asriel and Chara waiting for him at the entrance of the school. Because they aged so differently from humans, monsters had built their own school, with Toriel as the headmistress. She did a good job of it too, from what Harry heard.

“Ready for school?” Harry asked the two goat kids.

“Yes! I’m so excited!” Asriel exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement.

“I guess so,” Chara shrugged with a chuckle.  
“I’m going to miss Frisk though… They have to go to a human school.”

“They can handle themselves,” Harry told them.  
“They could handle the Underground just fine too.”

The school bell rang and Asriel said a quick goodbye to Harry and Chara before running over to Monster Kid. The two hurried into the Elementary school building while Harry and Chara walked towards the High school building. Asriel had been twenty-two years old when he had been murdered, only eleven years in monster years, while Chara had been fourteen. They made a nice little staircase all together. Asriel was the youngest, being eleven, Frisk came second with twelve years, Chara third at age fourteen and Harry was sixteen. If they stood together like that, their heights made a fun little staircase too.

They didn’t have classes like humans did. Every monster reached their different age groups at different times. One kid could reach Puberty at twenty, while another only got there at twenty-five. Besides, there were so few monster kids anyway, so they all studied individually in a big room, with teacher walking around, helping them whenever they had questions. There was a total of fifty-eight monster teens in the high school and another forty-five in the elementary school.

They had an end goal of course, which was on the same level as a human University junior class. Some kids reached it quicker than others and graduated earlier. Exams were a choice for them, which they could decide to take whenever they wanted. Harry was well on his way to graduating early thanks to his study sessions with his bros and Alphys, and now he had his new dad to help him out too. He estimated he’d be out of school in two years. Three at most.

“Ugh! I’m really not looking forward to this!” Chara groaned.

“It’s just school. How bad can it be?” Harry asked with a chuckle.

“Considering I haven’t gone to one in my entire life?” Chara replied with a raised brow.  
“Or considering I have been dead for, like five hundred years? I think it will be _really bad_.”

“Point taken,” Harry chuckled nervously.  
“If it helps, I never went to a school before either.”

“Yeah. I’m sure you never learned anything from your genius big bro,” Chara muttered dryly.

“He wasn’t much of a help most of my life,” Harry laughed easily.  
“Sans likes nothing better than sleeping after all, but he used to be different. Taught me all the neat tricks I know and he translated Alphys for me when I lived in the lab.”

This seemed to surprise the human-turned-monster, and Chara turned to look at Harry with wide red eyes.

“You lived in the lab?!” they asked shocked.

“Yeah. At first,” Harry shrugged.  
“Some tests and stuff. And because I still looked half like a human. Sans didn’t want any monster to attack me.”

“Huh… that’s pretty nice of the comedian,” Chara murmured thoughtfully.

Harry chuckled softly and bumped against Chara in a friendly manner, grinning at them.

“He’s more than just some bonehead, you know,” he said winking.

Chara snorted and pushed Harry away with an amused grin on their furry snout.

“Believe it or not, but I used to live in the lab too,” they confessed.  
“I was pretty hurt and absolutely _terrified_ of everyone, so they brought me to Dr. Gaster to patch me up. After that, I only trusted him and Asriel for months, so I lived with him and Azzy came to visit daily. Eventually, I grew to understand that the monsters weren’t out to hurt me, and I went to live with mom and dad.”

“That sounds increasingly familiar…” Harry chuckled.

“How come?” Chara asked surprised.

“Well… my human relatives hated me,” Harry shrugged in reply.  
“Beat me up whenever I did something they couldn’t explain, called me horrible names, told me daily how much of an inconvenience my existence was and they made me sleep in a cupboard. When they had to take me with them on vacation, I had the best two weeks of my life. No way they could treat me that badly when surrounded by all those people. Sure, they left me in the hotel most times, but I didn’t get beat up or yelled at anymore. And then they left without me… I went to look for them and stumbled down here.”

“I ran away from home,” Chara mumbled.  
“The village treated me like a demon because of my eyes. When I heard the stories about the mountain, I thought I could just as well live with monsters if they all thought I was one anyway. I thought the fall would kill me… I hoped for it, actually.”

Chara looked away sadly and blushed before rushing to take a seat in the large auditorium they all sat together to study. Harry watched while Chara joined in with some of their age-mates before turning away and walking over to where Kenna and her friend Octavia had taken their seats.

“Mind if I join?” he asked.

“Harry! Of course not!” Kenna said cheerfully.  
“You can sit here. Maybe you can help a little with our math?”

This made the skeleton groan and he dropped his skull on the table. He despised math…

.              .              .              .              .

After classes, Harry walked home with the two young monsters, since Toriel still had to stay late and look over everyone’s work of the day together with the other teachers. And they just so happened to be neighbors, so that made things very easy.

“So how are your parents doing?” Harry asked the duo curiously.

“Mom is still not talking to dad,” Asriel replied sadly.

“It makes things pretty awkward, and Flowey isn’t helping,” Chara added.  
“He keeps reminding mom about all the kids dad killed. Did you know he remembers all their names?”

Harry scowled at that and shook his head in disappointment. Asgore and Toriel had decided to live together for the sake of their kids, but the kind goat mother still wasn’t willing to forgive the king. He could only imagine how awkward that had to be, living with the two of them like that. Flowey’s actions were pretty expected, but Harry had still hoped the plant was further along by now. He was definitely getting better with the care he received from Frisk, Asriel and Toriel, but soulless was still soulless.

Harry lived with his two brothers and their dad in a nice, big house. It looked a lot like the one they used to have in Snowdin, but with four bedrooms instead of three and a somewhat bigger lab as well. Both Sans and Gaster spend a lot of time down there lately.

It was pretty great to have a dad for the first time in his life, but Harry had to admit that things didn’t go as smoothly as he had hoped. He and Gaster didn’t know each other well. They tried their best to get to know one another and become the family they both wanted to be, but neither of them knew where to start building their relationship. They couldn’t even find anything to talk about when Sans and Papyrus weren’t around.

“Are you coming to our house, Harry?” Asriel asked, looking up hopeful at the skeleton.

Harry thought of it for a moment. Papyrus and Sans were probably still out at work, and Gas-… dad was most likely still out too. Even if he wasn’t, just the two of them was often too awkward for both of them.

“Sure,” he decides with a shrug.

“Great!” Asriel cheered happily.  
“Can you help me with my homework?”

Harry chuckled at that.

“So that was what you were after. And here I thought you just liked to have me around…”

The young goat boy blushed and looked down while Chara laughed.

“You’re surrounded by scientists. Of course we’d want you around for homework!” they teased.

Harry rolled his eye-lights and softly pushed the ex-human. They finally arrived at the house and Chara unlocked the door. Asgore was still at his office after all, so the only one home was Flowey, who was in his pot on the coffee table.

“We’re home!” Chara yelled.

“Finally! I’m _so_ bored!” Flowey groaned.

“Isn’t Frisk hope yet?” Asriel asked curiously.

Harry scowled. Chara had complained several times that day on how Frisk had a shorter school day than they did. That they weren’t back yet could be a problem.

“No. And no calls either to give a good reason,” the soulless flower huffed.

Harry still couldn’t quite understand how Flowey could still exist with Asriel being back. G-dad had explained that Flowey was probably too much of his own person to become Asriel again, so instead Lily’s power had taken what was Asriel out of Flowey, leaving him as a sentient flower and recreating Asriel as a separate being. It was still a little too vague for Harry, and only a theory but no one had any better explanation.

“How about we go look for them?” Harry suggested.  
“The human school is on walking distance, right?”

“Yeah. I know the way,” Chara replied.

Asriel hurried to grab Flowey’s pot and followed the older two monsters outside as they walked the short distance towards the human school. They came across several kids going home, all glancing warily or curiously at them. Monsters were still very much distrusted by the humans.

As they finally arrived at the school, they found Frisk sitting underneath a lamppost on the sidewalk rubbing away tears and blood from their face. Chara was by their side instantly, hugging the human in comfort as the other three watched with worried expressions.

“What happened?” Chara asked softly.

Frisk tensed and looked at their sibling, giving them a weak smile.

“N-nothing,” they whispered.  
“I j-just fell, that’s all.”

“You don’t end up with a black eye and a cut up face from just falling, Frisk,” Harry pointed out.

“The bone bag is right. You’re obviously been beaten up,” Flowey agreed.

The human child looked down at their feet and sniffled a little, but still refused to say anything.

“Just tell us what happened, Frisk,” Chara demanded.

“T-they said monsters didn’t belong on the surface and I should have just left you all under the mountain,” the teen muttered.  
“I disagreed, but they said I wasn’t allowed to have an opinion because I’m an orphan freak.”

“You’re not an orphan!” Asriel disagreed scowling.  
“You have mom, and dad, and me and Chara and Flowey!”

“And me, Sans, Papyrus, G-dad, Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, Napstablook…” Harry added with a grin.  
“We may not be related by blood, but how much does that say anyway? If only that counts, I’m an orphan too.”

“That’s what I said too… so they beat me up…”

The four monsters were quiet as they stared at Frisk in horror before anger overtook them.

“They did what?!” Harry exclaimed horrified.

“Who were they?” Chara asked darkly.

Frisk’s eyes widened at the controlled rage in Chara’s voice and surged up, grabbing the boss monster by the arms, looking worried.

“Don’t hurt them!” they shouted.  
“There’s no need to do anything to them! I can take care of this myself.”

“We’ll just talk to them,” Harry said softly.  
“If there’s a misunderstanding, we’ll get it cleared up.”

Frisk looked at Harry with a pondering expression before nodding hesitantly.

“It’s that group over there. Suzy’s in my class and she told the others I betrayed humanity…”

Harry looked over at the group of five kids standing together, laughing with eah other and scowled.

“I’ll go talk to them,” he said, walking over.

“I’ll come with you!” Chara shouted eagerly.

Flowey loudly ordered Asriel to put him on the grass, and quickly pupped under the ground as his roots took hold. Harry knew the flower would be waiting for them near the bullies and hoped he wouldn’t cause too much trouble just yet.

“We’re not really going to talk, right?” Chara asked in a growling voice.

“For the moment? Yes,” Harry replied calmly before his expression turned dark.  
“But if it turns out they really did mean Frisk harm, we’ll break their bones…”

Chara grinned at that, their red eyes sparkling in excitement. Harry ignored the bloodlust the other showed. They were all very protective over Frisk after all. If someone hurt their beloved Ambassador, they deserved to be punished for it. He was pretty sure all of monster kind agreed on that.

“Howdy! I’m Flowey! Flowey the flower!” they heard Flowey’s high-pitched voice greet the bullies.  
“So, I heard you lot were being mean to Frisk! Boy! Hehehehe. I sure hope that’s not true!”

“What the heck! A talking flower?!” one of the boys exclaimed.

“Another one of those monster freaks, I bet,” a girl sneered.  
“Just stomp on it, Andy. That thing freaks me out too much.”

“Do I now?” Flowey asked darkly, a wide, evil grin on his face.

He laughed creepily and several white pellets appeared around Flowey and he aimed them at the boy that carefully approach him to do as the girl had said. Harry quickly summoned a wall of bones to protect the children from the attack, making the soulless flower shout in rage.

“Why did you do that for!” Flowey exclaimed angrily.

“We’re here to talk, Flowey,” Harry said sternly.  
“We don’t want to harm them. They’re only kids after all.”

“So? Frisk is a kid too!” Flowey replied scowling.  
“Besides, I wasn’t going to _kill_ them… yet…”

Chara laughed behind Harry, who rolled his eye lights.

“Anyway, ignore the flower. Like I said, I just want to talk,” Harry told the kids.  
“So, I want to know which one of you is Suzy, if you guys don’t mind telling.”

“That would be me,” the girl that had spoken earlier said nervously.

Harry tried his best to shape his perpetual grin more gentle and kind in hopes not to scare the kids.

“You’re in Frisk’s class, right? They said you and them had a miscommunication.”

The girl snorted and crossed her arms.

“Call it whatever you like,” she spat.  
“She’s a traitor of the human race.”

Harry’s eye twitched at that.

“They,” Chara bit out next to him.  
“’They’re a traitor’. Use the right pronouns.”

“ _She’s_ a girl!” Suzy disagreed loudly.  
“That’s another reason why she’s a freak!”

“Frisk should just go to a monster school if she can’t act like a normal human,” the other girl next to Suzy huffed.

“Yeah!” One of the boys agreed.  
“No one wants her here anyway.”

“Frisk is non-binary,” Harry said coldly.  
“They don’t identify as either male or female. It’s common curtesy to respect that.”

“All I hear is blablabla,” Suzy said, turning away.

Next to Harry, Chara growled and suddenly teleported in front of the girl. All five of the kids screamed loudly at the sudden appearance of the goat kid. Chara chuckled darkly, a wide grin on her face, and her black eyes dripping some type of black liquid. In their hand was a shiny knife with a red blade.

“I think talking is getting us nowhere. Let’s try my way,” Chara spoke gleefully.

Harry laughed and shrugged.

“I guess you’re right,” he agreed, looking at Flowey.  
“Sorry to have interrupted you. Don’t kill anyone, deal?”

“I’ll try,” Flowey hissed in excitement.

Two of the kids turned away as they realized what was going on, but found themselves blocked off from the rest of the world by a large wall of bones. Harry was leaning against it lazily, smirking at the expressions of fear the kids were wearing.

“Not so fun when you’re on this side of the bullying, is it?” he asked.

.              .              .              .              .

The four kids and Flowey all sat next to the principal’s office of the human’s school while the five kids Harry, Flowey and Chara had attacked sat across from them, nursing their cuts and bruises while looking terrified. All their parents were inside, talking with the principal about the fight. Eventually, four woman, a man, Toriel and Sans walked back out along with the principal.

“Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again,” the principal said.

“Believe me, it won’t,” Toriel replied with a gentle smile before glaring at her kids.

They all shivered in fear. Frisk and Chara may easily overpower the goat mom, but when she was angry, she became twice as terrifying. No way they were going to risk her wrath.

“You’re in big trouble when we get home, kiddo,” Sans told Harry in his face stern tone.

Harry smiled, knowing that the humans couldn’t see a difference anyway and nodded, holding in a snort as Sans winked at him. Other than his friends, he was _not_ in trouble at all.

“That’s good to hear,” one of the mothers said coolly.  
“So, Toriel. I guess we’ll see you next Friday for the first PTA meeting?”

The female boss monster gave an apologetic smile and shook her head.

“I’m afraid I can’t make it. My school has a meeting I can’t miss and Asgore has to stay late at the office.”

“How unsurprising,” one of the other women said with a cruel smile.  
“The monster doesn’t have any time for her human foster child. I bet she just adopted the poor girl for child support…”

Frisk and Asriel had to hold back Flowey and Chara at those words and Harry and Sans frowned as well. Toriel just turned her head and stared at Frisk with a guilty expression, who just smiled in a comforting manner back at her mom.

“You know, I don’t have anything to do Friday,” Sans offered shrugging.  
“I can go to the meeting for ya. Frisk’s family after all.”

This had all Dreemurrs brighten up instantly and Toriel grabbed Sans in a tight hug, lifting the short skeleton off the ground and twirling him around for a moment before letting him back down.

“Thank you, Sans! I really appreciate that,” she said.

“No problem, Tori,” Sans mumbled blushing cyan.  
“But, uh… Can you not lift me up again? It’s a bit embarrassing.”

This had the kids laugh again while the other parents scowled at the exchange.

“It’s a _Parent-Teacher Association_ , not a great-grandparent Association,” a woman sneered.

Harry tensed and waited eagerly with large eye-sockets for his big brother’s reply.

“Oh, then I guess we’re both in the same boat, right Diane?” Sans replied with a calm sigh.  
“I mean, you’re hiding it pretty well with all that make-up, but we know you’re really just a **_Dianasaur_**.”

The woman gasped horrified while Harry, Frisk, Chara and Asriel burst out laughing. Toriel, too, looked very amused, though she was polite enough to hide her chuckles behind her hand.

“Geeeeet Dunked on!” Chara crowed.

“That’s our dunkle Sans for you!” Frisk laughed, winking at Diane.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though the votes went to Asgore/Toriel, several of you still asked for PTA Sans. So, here you go!


	12. Ambassador Frisk

It was unusual for Sans to be already home by the time Harry finished school, but he was that Friday. The short skeleton was seated on the couch, watching Discovery Chanel along with his dad as Harry walked into the house.

“You’re back early,” Harry greeted his older brother.

“Yeah. Parent Teacher meeting starts in an hour, so I took some time off at the lab,” Sans replied.

Right. Harry had almost completely forgot Sans would be going to Frisk’s PTA meeting instead of Toriel and Asgore, since the two of them had too busy schedules, especially with the press conference tomorrow afternoon.

“I suppose that means you and I are home alone today, Harry,” Gaster said with a smile.  
“Perhaps we can do something together? I’m aware that you quite enjoy science, and I was thinking…”

Harry felt guilty at the hopeful smile Gaster gave him. He’d been avoiding his adoptive dad a little since they had reached the surface, a little awkward with the whole having a dad thing. Still, he really did want to hang out more with the man and fix their strained relationship. Unfortunately, he already had plans for the day and he didn’t want to let his dear friends down by cancelling those.

“I’m sorry. I promised Frisk to pick them up,” he replied.  
“I’m going to help them prepare their speech a bit more for tomorrow.”

Gaster’s face fell at this and he nodded in understanding.

“I see… Enjoy yourselves, then,” he said.

Harry stepped up to Gaster and pulled the old skeleton in for a hug, making Gaster tense in surprise.

“Can I get a raincheck on the science stuff?” he asked, letting the man go.

“O-of course you can! I am here always if you wish,” Gaster replied.

“Great! Thanks dad! I’ll see you tonight then!” Harry said before stepping back out of the house along with Sans.

Sans pulled the door closed and walked next to Harry, grinning widely.

“I think you just made the old man’s day,” the older chuckled.

“Huh? How? I refused his offer to bond,” Harry replied upset.

“Yeah, and you told _dad_ you’d take him up another time,” Sans replied smirking.

Harry tensed and started blushing. That’s right. He’d called Gaster dad… That had to be the first time he did it by accident. He chuckled and started walking again. Maybe he and his dad could really become a family after all, that was good.

They soon reached Frisk’s school, a few minutes before the day ended for the students there, so they walked to where some of the other parents were huddled together and sat down on an empty bench. Several human parents were staring at them, either in curiosity or disgust, but they ignored them.

“So, how is everything going at school for you, kiddo?” Sans asked.

“I’m doing fine,” Harry replied.  
“Toriel estimates I only need to do two more years and I’ll graduate.”

“That’s awesome! I’m proud of ya.”

The two looked up as a short, plump woman approached them, smiling kindly at them.

“Hello. I’m Samantha Smith,” she greeted.  
“Are you here for Frisk Dreemurr?”

“Yeah. How’d you know?” Sans replied, raising a bone brow.

The woman chuckled and sat down next to Sans, holding out her hand in greeting.

“My son is in their class. He’s told me Frisk has monsters as family. He’s quite fond of them, you know,” she explained.  
“My son has Autism, and he often has a hard time making friends, but Frisk has been really kind to him. They even protected him from bullies.”

Harry could feel his soul swell with pride at those words and he could see Sans was feeling the same way.

“The kid always has a knack for helping anyone in need,” Sans said.

“They’re very kind,” Harry agreed softly.  
“After all, they saved all of us from our prison under the mountain.”

“Yes, they’re very unique for sure,” Samantha laughed amused.  
“You must be very proud of your child, Mr. Dreemurr.”

Harry chuckled as Sans sweated nervously and held up his hands.

“Oh, no! I’m not their dad,” he said hurried.  
“The name’s Sans Gaster. I’m a close friend of the family and I’m here as a favor. Frisk’s dad is Asgore Dreemurr, our King and their mom is dean of the monster school, so they couldn’t make it.”

Samantha blushed, making Harry burst out laughing. It may look kind of rude, but Harry really didn’t mean it like that. The whole thing kind of seemed hilarious to him.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that our brother actually did try to fight for custody, but Frisk talked him out of it,” he explained between chuckles.  
“They call Sans their ‘duncle’ and so do Frisk’s siblings, by the way.”

“Siblings?” Samantha asked confused.

“Yeah. Asriel and Chara are monsters, so they go to the monster school,” Harry said.

“Oh. Then why doesn’t Frisk go there too? Or do their parents want them to connect to humans more?”

“That may have something to do with it,” Sans chuckled.  
“Tori wants humans and monsters to get along again, like before the war.”

“But it’s mostly because monsters have a different school system,” Harry said.

“Oh? How is it different?” Samantha asked curiously.

“We only start going to school at the age of twenty, and we go for about fifty years,” Sans replied.  
“Harry here is actually one of the faster students. He’ll probably graduate in two years and he’s only thirty-two.”

“My case _is_ special, though,” Harry muttered blushing.  
“I was only fourteen when I started going instead of twenty…”

“How delightful!” Samantha said.  
“This is all so fascinating. You know what, we should suggest classes on monster culture during the meeting. I’m sure the students would love that.”

Sans grinned widely at that and he nodded his head in agreement.

“That sounds like a great idea,” he said.

A moment later, the school bell rang and many students started walking outside. Some paused at the sight of the two skeleton sitting in the front, but most rushed past in a hurry, screeching happily about the upcoming weekend. Eventually, Frisk walked out, talking with a boy with blond curls and glasses on his freckled face.

“How was your day, Jimmy?” Samantha asked, hugging the boy.

“It was fine,” the boy mumbled quietly.

“I invited Jimmy over to our house, since you’re going to the meeting,” Frisk said grinning.

Harry raised a bone brow and crossed his arms, giving them a stern look.

“You do remember that you’re supposed to practicing your speech for tomorrow,” he said.

Frisk blushed and shrugged their shoulders lamely.

“Jimmy said he didn’t mind observing,” they muttered.

“I have a book with me,” the blond boy explained.

“If you guys say so,” Harry shrugged.  
“How about we get going, then?”

“I’ll come pick you up at the Dreemurrs when we’re done here,” Samantha said, kissing her son goodbye.

“See ya at home, kiddo,” Sans said, waving at Harry.

.              .              .              .              .

“I’m bored! When are you done?” Chara whined, draping themselves over Harry’s back.

“Flowey’s not doing anything right now,” Harry replied calmly.

“Don’t involve me!” the flower yelled annoyed.

“Fine, then how about you help Asriel with his homework?” Harry suggested to Chara.  
“You know, since you’re so set on not making your own. Or cook something. Your parents would love that.”

Chara rolled their eyes and walked away again. They dropped face first onto the couch right next to where Jimmy was curled up with his book. The blond boy squeaked and scrambled out of the way, making Chara snort out a laugh.

“I won’t bite, you know,” they said with a wink.  
“Well, not unless you want me to…”

Jimmy turned bright red and he jumped off the couch, hiding behind Frisk, who was chuckling softly in amusement. Harry laughed and shook his head, smirking at the boy.

“I don’t know how safe you are there,” he said grinning.  
“Chara learned the flirting from Frisk after all. They’re pro.”

“I won’t flirt with Jimmy,” Frisk replied.  
“He asked me not to. It makes him uncomfortable.”

Harry smiled proudly at that. At least Frisk knew when to stop, that was a very good thing. A moment later, the front door opened and Sans walked in, followed by Samantha.

“Hey, big bro!” Harry greeted with a lazy wave.  
“How was the meeting? Had fun?”

“Yeah, a little,” Sans replied shrugging.  
“Linda and Helen were making a bit of a fuzz, but John is a pun-lover. He and his husband invited us over for dinner. They’ve got twins in Frisk’s year.”

“Rose and James!” Frisk said grinning.  
“They’re nice! Top of the class in our year.”

“Jimmy. Say goodbye to your friends and we’ll go home,” Samantha said.  
“Thank you, Frisk and Harry, to keep him company… and Frisk’s siblings too of course.”

“You’re welcome!” Asriel said as he closed his school book and grinned at Samantha.  
“Jimmy helped me with my math a little. Harry never likes it, so he avoids it. I’m Asriel by the way, and that’s Chara and Flowey.”

“Hey,” Chara greeted.

“Ugh… Whatever,” Flowey grumbled.

“We’ll go home too, Harry,” Sans said.

“Bye, Harry! Bye Sans!” Frisk said, waving happily.

“Bye Frisky,” Sans chuckled.  
“Weed, creep, ex-weed.”

Chara growled lowly while Asriel pouted sadly at Sans’s insult.

“Just leave already, smiley trash bag!” Flowey hissed.

.              .              .              .              .

The Gaster family left for the press conference at City Hall pretty early in the morning, even though it was still another five hours before it would start.

“Why so early?” Harry complained yawning.

“Because they asked for our presence as moral support to the royal family,” his dad replied.

“We can be moral support in the afternoon, dad,” Harry whined pouting.

“DON’T BE SILLY, HARRINGTON!” Papyrus said in his usual loud, excited voice.  
“WE MUST BE PREPARED FOR THIS DAY! WE MUST BE COMPLETELY READY!”

“You’re totally right, bro,” Sans agreed lazily, making Harry roll his eye lights.

“Easy for you to say. You’ve been sleeping the whole way here,” Harry muttered.

Sans chuckled and laid his head back down on Papyrus’s shoulder. Sans had refused to come out of bed that morning, so Papyrus had carried him to the car and let him sleep through the whole ride. Harry had tried the same, but other than Sans, he needed some comfort and silence to be able to sleep.

“You’d think I would be the one being carried,” Harry grumbled playfully.

“Aren’t you the one always saying we shouldn’t treat ya like a kid?” Sans shot back.

“Of course Sans is the one being carried,” Gaster spoke up amused.  
“He is after all the smallest one here. Have I ever told you how adorable he was as a child? Such a small baby.”

“Dad!”

Sans appeared wide awake in an instant, making the other skeletons laugh loudly. That quieted down a little as they arrived in the large entrance room of the city hall, where the Dreemurr family, Alphys and Undyne were already present, along with several human police agents and the mayor.

“Harry!” Frisk greeted cheerfully, waving at the skeleton.

“Ah. Thank you for coming so early, my friends,” Asgore said with a smile.

“It is no issue, your majesty,” Gaster replied, shaking the king’s hand.

“Ready to face true monsters?” Harry asked, ruffling Frisk’s hair.

“Can’t I just go back to the Underground, with you all trying to kill me?”

Harry laughed and wrapped an arm around the human’s shoulders, pulling them close before pressing his teeth against the top of their head.

“We’re here for you, sweetheart,” he muttered.

.              .              .              .              .

The small group of VIP monsters were all standing together on the stage, along with the mayor and misters Calder and Boot from the Magical Congress. The mayor had stepped up first to greet the mass of reporters and camera men. He’d given a short explanation on how he, as many of their little town, had grown up with the stories of demons in the mountain that ate children. How those demons had walked out, not as enemies, hungering for the flesh of their kids, but as their friends.

After that, Mr. Calder stepped up, giving a short speech on how humans and monster once lived together in peace. How the monsters were the first beings to teach witches and wizards control over their magic. Monsters had once, long ago been considered the children of magic and had even been considered gods in the Egyptian times.

Then it was Asgore’s turn. The king spoke fondly of his memories of growing up on the surface. He told them of his friends he once had and wondered aloud how many of them still had living descendants. He thanked the humans for allowing him a chance to share the happiness of his own childhood with his children and promised an era of peace for humans and monsters alike.

“Now, I would like to give the stage to my youngest child,” Asgore said after he had finished his speech.  
“Frisk has a special place in the hearts of all of monster kind. When they arrived in the Underground, they did not fear us. They did not fight us or run from us. They became our friend. They showed kindness and understanding for our grieves. Frisk, while only considered a child in both our cultures, singlehandedly saved us from our prison after hundreds of years.”

There was a polite applause as Frisk stepped up to the stand. They looked back at the others nervously for a moment before taking a deep, calming breath. The microphone made a peeping sound as they tried to adjust it to their height. There was some snickering, making Frisk blush. Most of the humans in the room were looking amused, even mean. They wanted to see Frisk fail.

Scowling, Harry walked over and put a skeletal hand over the human’s trembling hand. Frisk looked up startled, but smiled as they saw it was Harry. Giving them a gentle, comforting grin, Harry adjusted the mic to Frisk’s height and stepped away again.

“All yours, Ambassador,” he said with a wink.

Frisk giggled a little and faced the crowd again, clearing their throat.

“Hello. I am Frisk Dreemurr,” they greeted softly.  
“I fell into the Underground three months ago. I… survived the fall against my expectations and met a very nice lady that protected me. Her kindness gave me the strength to make the journey through the Underground and help them find a way to finally break the Barrier.”

They paused for a moment and smiled.

“On my travels, I met so many great friends, like Chara, who was with me from start to finish,” they continued.  
“Toriel protected me and offered me a home… I am very happy to say that I took her offer. I never really had a mom before. Then, in Snowdin, I met three brothers, who cared deeply for each other and showed kindness to everyone, even a stranger and a possible threat like me. They guided me and made me smile all the way through. I’m so happy I can call Sans, Papyrus and Harrington Gaster family.”

“Then, in Waterfall, I met the bravest, strongest and most passionate monster in the entire Underground,” Frisk continued proudly.  
“Undyne was the Captain of the Royal Guard, tasked with protecting the Underground and their king, and she was a challenge to get past.”

They chuckled at that and looked back towards Undyne, who was wearing a large, proud grin.

“We cooked and became very close friends,” Frisk laughed joyously.  
“In Hotland, I met a star and a genius. Mettaton and Dr. Alphys put up a great show for me.”

There was more laughter in the crowd and Harry clapped Alphys on the back as she blushed happily.

“I finally reached the Capital, where I met King Asgore, who was kind and offered me tea, and Asriel, who played games with me and Chara. And lastly, I met Dr. W.D Gaster, who told me many interesting things,” Frisk finished.  
“It was with a combined effort of all of the Underground to break the Barrier, but we managed and came here. For an orphan like me, it’s pretty great to finally have a real family. And such a big one too! I have made so many wonderful friends, like Flowey, Monster Kid, Grillby, Muffet and many, many more. Monsters are kind and helpful beings. They might look different from us, but they don’t believe in discrimination. I’m sure we can all be friends and live together peacefully.”

One person in the front of the crowd stood up, a reporter at the sights of it. He was holding a little notepad, and a camera man sat behind him. He was two seats separated from Mettaton and Burgerpants and Harry had already noticed how he seemed to be glaring at the glamourous robot.

“How can you be so sure that we could co-exist?” the man asked.  
“The monsters were locked in that mountain for a reason, weren’t they?”

Harry scowled annoyed and looked over to Frisk. The human teen looked taken aback for a moment, and Harry was about to jump in when he was suddenly roughly pushed to the side.

“Because humans are mean, unfair and egotistic,” Chara said loudly, glaring at the reporter.  
“Four hundred years ago, I was born as a human. My family was rotten, beat me, called me names and I came to Mt. Ebott to kill myself. Instead, I was adopted by monsters and for the first time in my life, I was treated with kindness. And you know why humans were so cruel to me? Because I was born with _red_ eyes!”

“If you were born a human, what has happened to you?” a female reporter asked from the second row.

“I killed myself to save my family,” Chara announced calmly.  
“Asriel absorbed my SOUL and passed the Barrier, to find a way to break it. When the humans saw him with my body, they thought he killed me and attacked. Asriel refused to fight back and was killed too.”

“Uhm… Chara’s spirit woke up again when I came into the Underground,” Frisk spoke up again.  
“Dr. Gaster told us it was because our SOULS were practically identical. When we reached the Barrier, Harry… brought them and Dr. Gaster back to life.”

Instantly, all eyes in the room were on Harry, who sighed and stepped closer too.

“I’m… a Halfling,” he confessed to the crowd, causing many monsters to gasp loudly in shock.  
“My mother was a skeleton monster that was able to evade detection and live as a human and my father was a wizard. I’ve been told both of them died during the first war against Voldemort.”

He dug his hands deeper in his pockets and gave a nervous chuckle.

“Hybrids are known to be more powerful than either humans or monsters,” he explained.  
“But bringing them back was a very unique… thing… I lost the ability as soon as I had it. The explanation is a bit complicated to give right now, but it has to do with my mother.”

“Excuse me, Darling,” Mettaton spoke up, waving with a bright smile.  
“If you really are a Halfling, does that mean you can appear as a human too?”

Harry laughed and shrugged.

“Never really tried it,” he replied.  
“But I can try it now, if you want.”

“Yes please!” Frisk said cheerfully.

Chuckling, Harry held his hands out in front of him and concentrated. Slowly, some of his fingers started to bubble and grow skin and tissue. Everyone watched in awe as the skin spread faster and faster over his hands and arms. He could feel it crawl over his ribs and spine, then down his hips to cover his legs. His neck slowly grew skin as well until it finally covered his face too. He giggled a little when he grew hair. It tickled his new skin.

“How does it look?” he asked smirking, weaving a hand through his hair as he looked at Frisk.  
“I haven’t had hair since I was eight. Do I look good? Am I handsome?”

He winked and the human teen started blushing brightly. Frisk nodded shyly, hiding their bright red face in their hands. Harry scowled in surprise. Huh… looked like Sans wasn’t joking after all when he said Frisk had a crush on him.

 


	13. Death Eaters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some plot!

Harry couldn’t believe what he saw as he stared into the mirror. It was him, but as a human. He had thick, messy black hair falling in waves around his head, bright green eyes, a tan skin and a few almost invisible freckles around his nose. And actual nose, not just a nasal cavity. And ears! That had to be one of the weirdest parts.

Nails were strange too, but he wasn’t going to complain. It was… nostalgic, almost. More fun than he had ever expected at least. When he had finally become a real skeleton, he had never wanted to become human again. His human life had been miserable and he had wanted to forget anything that had to do with it as soon as possible.

Harry grinned and touched his cheek carefully. The skin was really soft and warm. His face was on the round side, nothing really special, he guessed, and he had long, dark eye lashes framing his eyes, bright and glowing with magic. He was skinny, but really, when wasn’t he? And while he was supposed to be an adult in human time, he still looked like a teenager, just like when he was a skeleton. It suited him really well, if he dared to say so himself.

“Hey there, handsome,” he said to his own mirror.

“Hey to ya too, baby bones.”

Harry shouted and turned around, his eyes wide in horror as he saw Sans standing behind him, snickering silently.

“I’m using the bathroom here!” Harry shouted blushing.

“No. You’re drooling over your own human face for the past half hour and I need to shower.”

Harry’s blush brightened and he hurried to open a shortcut downstairs, where his dad was watching TV. The oldest skeleton barely looked up and chuckled knowingly at the sight of his adopted son.

“Going somewhere?” he asked smirking.

“Next door,” Harry mumbled, pulling his hood over his head.

“I’m sure Frisk will be happy,” his dad told him teasingly.

Harry pouted and hurried out of the house. It was pleasant weather outside and it felt unusually good against his newfound skin. Harry’s pale lips pulled up in a bright grin and he laughed joyously. He still loved being a skeleton more, but a bit of change was pretty fun too. He wondered how he could use this to his advantage. As he arrived at the Dreemurrs, the door was already opened and Asgore was smiling down at him.

“Howdy, Harry,” he said in a deep voice.  
“Good to see you again, though you don’t quite look like I’m used to.”

Harry chuckled and stepped inside. Already, the smell of pie reached his nostrils and he breathed in. All of his senses were so much clearer in his human form than as a skeleton. Maybe because it was a physical thing now, or perhaps the combination of magic and physical mass working together to form the visuals, smells and sounds.

“Hello, my child!” Toriel greeted from inside the kitchen.

“Hiya, aunt Tori!” Harry waved at her with a wide grin.  
“Where are Chara, Frisk and Asriel? Oh, and Flowey.”

“Upstairs,” Toriel replied smiling.  
“Along with Frisk’s little friends.”

“Thanks, aunt Tori!”

Harry walked towards the stairs and took it two at the time. It had been almost a week since he got to see Frisk. The poor human had been flooded with interviews and important meetings left and right. They had even missed a whole week of school. Good thing they still had Jimmy and the twins.

He could hear sounds coming from the second door to the right, so he walked over and knocked before opening it. He grinned when he saw the entire group of kids sitting together in Frisk’s room. Chara and Asriel seemed to have been in the middle of a wrestling match on Frisk’s bed when he had walked in, and Frisk sat on the floor, pouring over textbooks along with their three human friends.

“Harry!” Asriel shouted, jumping off the bed and hiding behind the older teen.  
“Chara is being mean to me again! Please protect me!”

Harry laughed amused and watched as the other furry child rolled their eyes and got up from the bed.

“Don’t be such a baby, Azzy!” Chara exclaimed.

“I’m not a baby! You’re a baby!”

“Jeez, kid. Can you be more lame?” Flowey growled out from his perch on the desk.

“Be nice, Flowey,” Frisk scolded, scowling at the flower.

With another chuckle, Harry pulled Asriel along with him towards the four humans and sat down cross-legged in between Frisk and Rose. Both Rose and her brother were of Indian heritage, adopted when they were about a year old by their American fathers.

Harry had pulled Asriel on his lap and wrapped his arms around the furry creature, putting his chin on top of the boy’s head. Chara huffed and plopped down on Frisk’s other side, next to Jimmy, who leaned a bit away with a displeased expression.

“Chara doesn’t bite, you know,” Harry commented.

“Not true. They bit Andy three days ago,” Jimmy mumbled.

Harry raised a brow and looked over at said boss monster, who just grinned smugly.

“He was bullying bleating at us,” they replied shrugging.

Harry snorted and looked down at the books. It was History.

“By the way, nice looks, Harry,” Rose said smiling.

Harry blinked in confusion before he remembered he was still covered in skin. He chuckled and concentrated on becoming a skeleton again.

“Sorry, I was distracted,” he said once the transformation was done.

“Aww!” the twins whined pouting in disappointment.

“I like you better as a skeleton,” Frisk said smiling.

Harry chuckled again and looked over at the brunette.

“Oh? And why do you say that?” he asked curiously.

Frisk blushed and shrugged lamely.

“Because you _are_ a skeleton,” they replied.  
“You look good as a human, but it’s just not you.”

Harry’s eternal skeletal smile softened at those words and he reached over to ruffle his favorite human’s hair. Frisk blushed brightly at that and looked down with a happy little grin, making Harry chuckle. Next to Chara, Jimmy was scowling in displeasure.

The sudden sound of an explosion right outside had some of the kids screaming in shock. Harry, Chara and Frisk all jumped up and ran towards the window. There were a lot of flashing lights happening outside and the sounds of a battle. Harry’s eye sockets widened in horror when he noticed it was happening in front of his house, which was on fire. Several hooded figures were battling his brothers and father, who all held out bravely.

“Motherf-…!” Harry growled before he teleported straight into the fight.

He had two large Gaster Blasters by his side as he materialized next to Papyrus and he blasted three attackers away. Papyrus instantly synchronized his attacks with Harry, locking in several attackers within a circle if blue bones before letting Harry blast them.

A little father, Sans was fighting another three while Gaster took care of all the others. The oldest skeleton stood calmly on top a gigantic blaster, with cracks similar to his own on its skull. Six smaller blasters floated on either side of him, blasting bright attacks in all the SOUL colors. Harry was surprised all the attackers were still standing with so much Karmic Retribution blasting at them.

“Aaaah!”

Harry looked up startled as Chara charged at one of the attackers, a bright red knife in hand. The former human jumped on the back of the cloaked figure and stabbed him in the neck, making him scream and drop to the ground bleeding.

“My child!” Toriel exclaimed horrified.  
“We do not kill anyone! We only protect.”

The former queen of monster kind send a fireball towards another cloaked human trying to get to Chara, before a bone attack from Sans took him out completely. Harry winced as he saw the Karmic poisoning making quick work of the attacker.

“I’m protecting Harry!” Chara shot back.

Harry would have laughed, but was too busy holding up bone walls as two other men tried to blast through them with explosive spells. Suddenly, a bright green shield appeared before him and he looked over towards his dad. One of his hands was glowing bright green to hold up the shield while the other send three of the colorful blasters towards his own opponent. It was official. Harry’s dad was awesome.

Toriel sighed and looked over to Asgore, who held his trident in hand, glaring regally at the cloaked men. Moments later, Undyne came running down the street with a loud battle cry as well, with Mettaton Neo following right behind her, his rocket-launcher arms ready for battle. Many other monsters came out of their houses as well and watched the battle or even joined in, like the dogs of the former Royal Guard, a tabby cat monster in a leather jacket and the Mad Dummy. Others, like the Nice-cream Guy, the former Snowdin shopkeeper and a blond calico cat monster, threw healing items at the fighting monsters or used healing magic.

Fifteen minutes later, when most of the cloaked attackers were already taken down and put in Papyrus’s toolshed, which they had improved to actually keep prisoners in, and Gaster had put up magical repressors to prevent any escape, the Aurors finally arrived.

Mr. Boot looked at the carnage and the still burning house while many citizens tried to extinguish it. Grillby and his daughter even tried to absorb as much as possible of the flames. Luckily, the wizards could put the flames out with a single muttered incantation and a swish of their wands.

“Alright. I _got_ to learn that!” Harry exclaimed.

“There are schools for you, if you want,” Boot spoke up.  
“Or private teachers. I’m sure the ministry would be happy to provide one.”

“I’ll do that once I graduate,” Harry commented thoughtful.

“WE HAVE IMPRISONED THE ATTACKERS IN THE TOOLSHED, MR. BOOT!” Papyrus shouted excitedly.  
“WELL, AT LEAST THE ONES THAT SURVIVED! MOST OF THEM DID OF COURSE, BUT CHARA WAS A BIT OVERLY EXCITED.”

The Aurors turned towards the furry, spotter teen, who scoffed and glared at them.

“They set the Gaster house on fire and tried to kill my friends!” Chara defended themselves.

“I’m actually with them on this one,” Sans said, a dark scowl on his skull.  
“They attacked us looking for Harry, saying something about a Dark Lord.”

Harry’s eyes widened in horror at those words. Had they come here looking for him? So… that made it his fault his family was in danger… right?

“They were Death Eaters?” Boot asked grimly.

“Dunno. We kinda skipped the introductions.”

“Allow me to bring you to them,” Gaster suggested hurried.  
“I’m sure you can make much more sense out of this than we do.”

As soon as the Aurors were led away, Undyne started cursing aggressively.

“Not only do we have to deal with vandals, but now we also gotta watch for terrorist attacks?!” she exclaimed angrily.  
“How are we supposed to live here when the humans refuse to even send us help? The Aurors are too far out and the no-maj police doesn’t want anything to do with us!”

“We need the Royal Guard to come back!” Doggo agreed.

The other four dogs and several other monsters loudly agreed.

“Calm down, all of you, please!” Asgore called loudly.  
“I will take this up at the Congress tomorrow. We are allowed to defend ourselves and we will, I promise this won’t happen again!”

This calmed the crowd down some more and several already moved back to their own houses, muttering among each other and looking over their shoulders towards the carnage. Harry sighed sadly and looked at the burned down house while his two brothers stood next to him.

“Now what will we do?” he asked softly.

“You can all stay with us,” Toriel offered with a smile.

The three skeleton brothers looked up at the goat monster, who smiled kindly at them. Next to her stood Frisk and Asriel, both grinning as well.

“You sure, Tori?” Sans asked unsure.

“Most certainly! I cannot let my dear friends out in the cold.”

“It’s really no problem,” Frisk said grinning.  
“Chara and Azzy can share a room, and me and Harry, and Papyrus, Sans and Dr. G can share the last room!”

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Harry asked scowling.  
“No offence, but you’re still… physically a different gender than me. It might get awkward to sleep in the same room…”

Frisk blushed and shrugged lamely.

“I never had a problem with it before,” they muttered.  
“I mean, I used to sleep together with Chara and Azzy in the same bed before we had this house…”

Harry hummed and nodded in understanding. Chara had been born male, even if they didn’t identified as one anymore. But unlike Chara and Asriel, Harry was already a bit older and he was aware more of those things than they were. Not that he was attracted to a twelve year-old. God no! He was just looking out for his friend now that he knew Frisk had a crush on him.

“Perhaps though, it might be better if we make the sleeping arrangements a bit different,” Toriel suggested mildly.  
“A bit more practical, if that is alright?”

.              .              .              .              .

“Sorry for the intrusion,” Harry said as he walked into Chara’s room.

It looked pretty much the same as Frisk’s, but with some different color scheme and a few more posters of human and monster idols, and a _lot_ less Mettaton. Harry kind of liked it, especially the pictures from Chara’s life in the Underground before their sacrifice.

“No problem, though I think Frisk might be a bit upset,” Chara replied chuckling.

They were already in their pajamas, as was Harry. It was a borrowed set of course. A baggy T-shirt and a pair of shorts from Chara who was closest to his size of the entire family.

“Ready to sleep?” Harry asked.

“Yeah. Hop on in so I can turn off the lights.”

They would be sharing Chara’s bed for the foreseeable future, which was luckily big enough to fit them both. Frisk and Asriel shared the little prince’s room while Papyrus and Sans would be sleeping in Frisk’s bed and Gaster took up the couch. Toriel and Asgore had profusely apologized about not having a proper bed for him, but he had waved them off with a smile and said it was fine.

“Good night, Harry,” Chara said with a tired yawn.

“G’night, Chara,” Harry replied, yawning as well.

Tomorrow they would go to the burned down house again and see what they could salvage while Asgore would try to convince the humans to let him reinstate the Royal Guard. Until then, all they could do was hope there wouldn’t be another attack coming their way.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fight scene is really crappy and hurried, but I really wanted to get this chapter done.


	14. Anti-Monster Association

**_MONSTERS, FRIEND OR FOE?_ **

**_MAGICAL BEASTS ROAM FREE_ **

**_PARENTS ARE CONCERNED, ARE MONSTERS A DANGER TO OUR CHILDREN?_ **

**_MORE MAGICAL BEINGS OUT FOR OUR DESTRUCTION_ **

Harry sighed and turned away from the shop window. There were so many newspapers with those kind of anti-monster messages on their front page. It had been like that for as long as they had come to the surface, which was already _half a year ago_.

“They’re all so stupid and bigoted,” Chara snorted bitterly.

He was going to pick up Frisk from school again along with Chara and Asriel. It wasn’t unusual to be stared at and judged by the bypassers, nor was it strange for people to shout slurs at them or for newspapers to print negative stories about them, but it started becoming much worse ever since the Death Eaters had attacked.

Monsters had become more wary of humans, both of the magical and non-magical kinds, while the humans had become suspicious of them since the re-instatement of the Royal Guard. Fights often broke out between groups and humans were always quick to blame it on monsters. It was the same the other way around of course, but Asgore always did his best to pacify, while many influential and powerful human did no such thing and pointed their fingers at the monster community just as quickly as their subordinates. Harry was worried for the fragile peace.

“I can already see Frisk!” Asriel called out excitedly a few feet in front of them.

The young monster started running towards the school yard, but stopped when a group of high school kids blocked his way. A rather ‘set’ boy that reminded Harry a little too much of Dudley Dursley to be comfortable with and stepped forward.

“Where do you think you’re going, goat boy?” the fat boy asked in a mean tone.  
“You don’t belong here at all! You and the other weirdos belong in cages.”

“You got some guts you little-!” Chara growled out, stepping forward, only to be stopped by Harry.

“Listen, we’re not looking for any trouble,” Harry said calmly.  
“Just let us pick up our friend and we’re gone again, alright?”

The group of kids all glared at him and their leader laughed cruelly.

“How about you and the rest of you freaks crawl back into your cage where you belong!” he sneered.

That was probably the stupidest thing anyone could say to Harry. He took a very special offence to the word ‘freak’ and would often react he’d been told was _extreme_. His eye lights had gone out and the eternal grin on his skull had become very strained.

“ _Kindly_ get out of our way,” he said in a frigid tone.  
“I promise you that if you don’t, _you’ll regret it_.”

One of the kids squeaked in fear and tugged on the leader’s sleeve, who just pulled free and glared at the smaller boy before looking back at Harry. He opened his mouth to say something, but the dark look Harry was shooting him must have finally properly registered and whatever he wanted to say ended up just being a garbled whimper before he turned around and he ran, the rest of his little gang running after him. Harry nodded gravely and he started walking again.

“That was _awesome_!” Chara exclaimed, hurrying to Harry’s side.  
“Did you see how they ran scared? They almost pissed their pants!”

“Your creepy face is almost as scary as Chara’s!” Asriel agreed.

They arrived at the school, where Frisk was waiting along with her three friends. Rose and Tyler both grinned and waved at the three approaching monsters while Jimmy scowled and turned towards Frisk.

“I’m going. Mom’s waiting,” he muttered.

Harry scowled as he watched the boy leave and looked at Frisk.

“The kid doesn’t really like me, does he?” he asked.

“Jimmy doesn’t like a lot of people,” Frisk said with an apologetic smile.

“Don’t feel bad, Harry! He didn’t like us either at first,” Tyler said comfortingly.

“He just needs some more time to warm up to people than most,” Rose added.

Harry nodded in understanding and watched amused as Asriel tackled Frisk in a hug.

“You’ll never believe what happened on our way here!” the young monster shouted excited.  
“There were some bullies, but before they did anything, Harry scared them off with his creepy face!”

Harry chuckled and put a hand on Asriel’s shoulder.

“That wasn’t my ‘creepy face’. I was just angry,” he said.

“Remind me not to piss you off too much, then,” Chara teased.

Harry rolled his eye lights and snorted amused before steering the group back towards the monster village. Frisk waved at their friends and called out a quick goodbye to the twins.

“Let’s not mention my… _creepy face_ to anyone at home, deal?” Harry muttered.

“Scared of how they’ll react?” Frisk asked curiously.

“Hah! I’m not scared of anything,” Harry scoffed blushing.

“Riiight…” Chara chuckled teasingly.

“I bet you’re scared of Sans. I know Chara is,” Asriel said cheerfully.  
“And mom, because she’s scary when she’s angry. Scarier than you two even.”

Harry and Chara looked at each other. They both knew Asriel was right, but they silently agreed to never let him know.

.              .              .              .              .

When the four teens arrived at the entrance to the monster village, they found their way blocked by a pretty large group of protestors. Many men and women stood before the gates separating them from the monsters, yelling out slurs and aggressive chants while holding up signs demanding monsters to be locked away again. To one side, there was a second, smaller group of protestors, protesting against the first group. They had signs of their own, demanding peace between races and saying monsters were humans too. They were separated by the police, who desperately tried to keep the peace with the help of Undyne and the Royal Guard.

The fish lady saw them and waved them over, yelling to the protestors quite rudely to step aside and let them pass through. Her fearsome roar of a voice had the masses split like the red sea to allow the four teens to walk over to their friend.

“Sup guys!” Undyne greeted them enthusiastically.

“Hey. What’s going on here, Undyne?” Frisk asked.

“Some group calling themselves the “Anti-Monster Association” is here demanding some tighter laws about our freedom,” Undyne replied.

“What? What did we do to them?” Chara asked incredulous.

“Apparently, they say we’re a threat,” the fish lady muttered.  
“After that Death Eater attack, the people here want us to be relocated before that Voldemort guy brings his war over here. Or they should lock us all up before we can _join him_.”

Harry’s eye sockets widened in shock at that. Did these people really blame _them_ for the attack…?

.              .              .              .              .

Asgore allowed a meeting with the leaders of AMA, along of course with Ebotton’s mayor and Mr. Boot. Gaster, Sans, Alphys and Undyne would be present as well. Asgore had suggested Toriel to come too, but she refused, saying she didn’t want anything to do with any kind of war. Frisk, on the other hand would be present, since they were the Ambassador.

Harry, Chara, Asriel and Flowey had to stay behind with Toriel, Papyrus and Mettaton, much to the teens’ annoyance. Harry and Asriel had taken the opportunity to do some homework, while Chara went up to their bedroom to pout.

“HARRY. METTATON AND I WILL GO TO OUR HOUSE!” Papyrus called out shortly after everyone had left for the meeting.  
“HE WANTS TO HELP US WITH THE INTERIOR DESIGN. COME OVER IF YOU WISH TO MAKE SUGGESTIONS!”

“I will!” Harry called back, waving as his brother left.

The house was still under renovation after the attack, but thanks to the help of their neighbors, it was at least back up. The house itself was almost finished being rebuild, but they still had to paint and get new furniture, so they still lived at the Dreemurr home for now.

Ten second after Papyrus’ departure, Chara came stomping down the stairs with Flowey in their arms and looked around curiously.

“Is mom in the kitchen?” they asked in a whisper.

Asriel and Harry looked at each other with confused scowls before nodding. Chara’s grin widened in excitement and they jumped down the last few stairs. Before either of the other two teens could question them, Chara grabbed Asriel’s hand and rushed towards the front door. Harry jumped up immediately and ran after the duo, curious what Chara was up to.

“Where are you going, my children?” Toriel called out from the kitchen.

“We’re going to Papyrus to help him with Harry’s room!” Chara called back.

“Very well! Be back before dinner!”

“We will mom!” Asriel replied.

Harry closed the door behind him as he stepped out last and looked over to Chara with a knowing grin.

“We’re not going to Pappy,” he stated.

Chara chuckled and shook their head.

“Of course not. We’re sneaking into the meeting.”

.              .              .              .              .

Most days, Harry considered himself above sneaking and spying. He was nearly an adult for crying out loud and perhaps even the most responsible among him and his brothers. Then again, neither Sans not Papyrus could be called even remotely responsible even on their good days, so that really didn’t mean a thing. Harry reasoned that his lack of proper parenting could be blamed if he was caught.

The three kids and demonic flower had hid in the corner of the conference room underneath an invisibility charm Harry had cast. He was overly pleased with himself for having had the foresight of reading up on – and practicing – human magic over the past few months. Since he was a Halfling, he was capable of both human and monster magic and didn’t even need a wand to do so.

They had been able to sneak in before the group arrived themselves. Frisk and company had been having some hats with the media first to talk about their expectations about this meeting and there had been official introductions between the monsters and the AMA leaders. They had already known who they were of course. Clara and Brandon Jones appeared practically everywhere with their anti-monster and anti-magic propaganda. They might be hating in the Wizarding community, but they were very influential among the no-maj.

“We just want our families to be safe,” Clara Jones told the group.  
“With monsters around, we know that is impossible. What if they decide they want to grow powerful and steal our souls?”

“I assure you, we have no intention of taking souls from you,” Asgore said calmly.  
“Perhaps once, to be able to escape the Underground, but Frisk showed us a better way.”

“Bullshit,” Brandon Jones grunted bitterly.  
“You’re just waiting for the perfect moment to strike.”

“There is no reason for this aggression,” Mr. Boot spoke up frowning.  
“These accusations are all pure slander and we all know it. The least the monsters deserve is a proper chance after being locked away for centuries.”

“They were locked away for a reason!” Clara Jones exclaimed angrily.

“Because of fear,” Frisk spoke up.  
“Many people are afraid of things they don’t know.”

“We cannot judge without proof,” the mayor said.  
“The monsters will stay, that is a decision made by the Congress.”

“I once lived on the Surface before the War, as did he King,” Gaster told them.  
“While many things have changed, _we_ are still the same at heart. Humans and monsters once lived in peace. Yes, there had always been cultural differences, and the fact that compared to humans, us monsters are rather close to being immortal, our weakness balanced us out. We _got along_.”

“Then do you know what the war was about?” Mr. Boot asked curiously.

Asgore sighed.

“A young monster decided to… kill his human love rival and took their soul,” Asgore said regretfully.  
“He… killed his lover after she denied him after and slaughtered a human village before several human warlocks were capable of stopping him.”

“So what you’re saying is that if one monster goes rogue, a hundred humans could be at risk?” Clara Jones asked darkly.

“Lady, you’ve got a serious case of selective hearing,” Sans growled out.

“Listen, even back then, the Royal Guard was only a _fraction_ of what it was now. We can keep our own under control,” Undyne spoke up.  
“If any monster decides to do any humans in, they’ll have to get past me and my men… And if a human wants to do in monsters… then ditto.”

“Still. The danger is far too great!” Brandon Jones pressed on stubbornly.  
“We must keep our races separated. Build greater walls around the Monster village! Have the entrances and exits guarded and ask for identification to anyone going in and out.”

“And most of all, relocated Frisk Dreemurr into a proper human family,” Clara said.  
“A monster home is no place for a young girl at all. She should be raised by her own-”

“NO!”

Asriel and Chara came running out of their hiding spot and threw themselves at Frisk protectively.

“You won’t take away our sibling, you stuck up bitch!” Chara shouted.

“What the hell are these freakish kids doing here!” Brandon Jones exclaimed angrily.

There was a blast of power and bones shot out all around the two Jones’. The whole room fell silent as Harry dropped his disguise and stepped forward, his eye lights glowing bright green. Flowey’s pot was clutched tightly between his boney hands. The soulless flower had an evil, demonic grin on his face, as if knowing the two humans had just signed their dead warranties.

 ** _“Don’t ever use that word around me,”_** Harry spoke darkly.

Everyone was staring at him in fear and shock, so Harry took a deep breath and made the bones disappear again.

“I’m sorry. I just don’t like it when people use the word freak,” he said softly.  
“It reminds me too much of beatings and dark, small cupboards.”

“See?! This is exactly what I meant!” Clara Jones cried out.  
“The poor girl is not safe amongst these beings if such a little thing can trigger them already!”

“Hey! Harry went through a lot!” Chara shouted angrily.

“And it’s _them_ not she, you misgendering creep!” Flowey growled.  
“If you _really_ have Frisk’s interests at heart, you would respect them!”

“Frisk is a child. She – or they, whatever they want to be called – needs _proper, human_ parents to take care of them!” Brandon Jones said.

“I do not!” Frisk spoke up angrily.  
“I love my family! I love mom and dad, and my siblings! And I love Ha- all the other monsters!”

The Jones couple stood up, both glaring at the monsters.

“We’ll see. We’re going to court with this matter,” Clara Jones said haughtily.

With that, the duo left the room, leaving the monsters seething and Mr. Boot and the Mayor frowning.

“You know, next time I see them, I’ll show them just _how_ dangerous a monster can be,” Chara hissed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone interested, I made some more art for this story! It can be found here: https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/family-beyond-blood


	15. A/N PLEASE READ THIS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know Author's Notes are the worst, but please bear with me for this one. It's really important.

Important message

I have come to a very unfortunate conclusion yesterday, that will likely not sit well with most of you. I realized I can’t continue writing my stories.

The reason is actually quite simple: Writing isn’t just a hobby to me, it’s my life. It’s the only real outlet I have. My entire life, I’ve lived in my head, and that won’t ever change. The outside world is only one thing to me, and that is the cause of stress. However, through writing I could open up in ways I never could in any other way and I have been using it since I learned how to write.

I actually still have stories lying around I made when I was seven years old, and I still read them every now and then when I feel particularly nostalgic. But that’s not the point.

The point is that I lost that part of myself lately. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been feeling miserable and strung out and I lost all my will to continue. Writing had become a _cause of stress_ instead of a _stress reliever_. I didn’t write what _I_ wanted anymore and instead I started writing what I thought others would want to read.

My stories have become empty to me. They don’t fill me with the sense of pride and accomplishment they used to.

I have always told myself that I don’t care about what others think of my writing, that I write for _me_ , but that hasn’t been the truth in over a year. I started looking for praise to make myself feel better about the hollowness my stories instilled inside me, but all it did in the long run was suck me dry.

I need to rediscover my love for writing again, and that can only be done in one way:

I need to stop posting them. At least for now.

No, this isn’t goodbye forever. I’ll start posting my stories again eventually, but I can’t tell you with certainty when. Maybe it’ll take months, maybe it’ll take years. All I know is that it won’t be soon. I need time to find the meaning of my stories. Of my _Life_.

I hope you can all understand this is important, and that I am not doing this out of spite or anything like that. You have all been nothing but supportive and kind, and I am truly grateful for all you have done for me.

I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you in return.

I **will** come back eventually, but I can’t promise I’ll come back specifically to this story, so instead, I’ll post all of the ideas I had for the continuations of them. Perhaps one day, I’ll be able to finish them, or someone else will take them over. These stories I shared with you aren’t truly mine anymore anyway. They’re _yours_ now.

Please take care of them for me. I put part of my being in them, no matter how small a part it was. I put my heart and soul in every single word I put out for you guys.

I love you, and thank you.


End file.
